


Breath of life

by R95irth



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: F/F, F/M, I promise to provide you an happy ending, Im sorry English is not my native language but I try my best, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 65,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R95irth/pseuds/R95irth
Summary: She opened her eyes to a familiar voice.. She opened her eyes like it was the natural thing to do, expecting to find someone lying next to her, gazing at her lovingly. But she found nothing but an empty room dazzling in a pale blue light, and a slate. She opened her eyes to a familiar voice, but what she saw was nothing but familiar : even her own face. She didn’t know who she was anymore and she found nothing but the wildness of nature and the responsibility of an unknown quest as old as time.(The "Fantasy" Bnha x Zelda Breath of the wild kinda AU no one expected, not even me).





	1. Awakening at the great plateau.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone !  
> It feels good to write again, and strangely it isn't in the better care series for once ! That's not so bad.  
> Here are my usual warning, ô new reader that starts this fic : 
> 
> -English is not my first language : I do my best but unfortunately, it shows. I apologize in advance for any mistake you might find in it. If you have the courage to propose your name to beta-read this fic, I will accept happily. 
> 
> -This fic is a Zelda Breath of the wild AU x The fantasy AU ending of boku hero academia. Most of the bnha character design will be close to the two fantasy art cover we had from Horikoshi. Yes it is weird. I will really mix the two universes into one, so you might find similarity of breath of the wild, while it will still be different, as bnha has a larger cast of characters that I do no want to change all that much. It might be odd at some point, I hope you'll still like it. 
> 
> -The story starts a lot like breath of the wild but I plan to do some major changes to fit all the characters of bnha, I hope you'll like it.
> 
> -I am cursed with "this story/chapter was supposed to be short but here we are" you have been warned. 
> 
> -This fic will not have a regular update schedule and I apologize, I work a lot irl so really I try to write when I get some time but there are some busy week/year and I also need to draw (for my mental sanity) and rest (for my body sanity) so writing is when I can afford it. To give you an example of a busy year : I hadn't take vacation for 8 months straight as I write those words (except the one week during winter break from the society I work at), and you know what winter break / family Christmas is...), and we are on may. 
> 
> -This fic doesn't invalidate any ship, of bnha nor Zelda. Ship what you want and what makes you happy ! I tagged all the ship you'll find in this text, so you'll not be surprised/disappointed in a future chapter by your notp. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy the ride and I wish you a good reading session.

_ Open your eyes.  _

 

There was a faint light, warm and kind, dancing between her eyelashes. Like a blue flame. For the first time, she felt conscious of her body, of the coldness lingering in her limbs. 

 

_ Momo...  _

 

The voice was familiar, in some way. The name too. But she was so tired that she couldn't remember where she had heard it before, nore who it was. She felt like she should have. It felt like a dream, a dream that had been important, once upon a time, but couldn’t get much senses now that she was getting pulled out of her slumbering mind. A dream that was all and well, warm and kind, beautiful and peaceful, because it had no senses. Because she had no sense of herself. because she didn’t exist anymore. 

 

_ Open your eyes !  _

 

She awoke, slowly. Half expecting to meet the owner of the voice next to her, looking as pissed as he sounds. But she found nothing but coldness and blue haze, her body still drifting in a pond of water. That’s why she had been so cold ; she guessed.

 

That was her first thought, as she managed to seat down and stare, her mind still foggy and her eyelids feeling so heavy. Black spots filled her vision field, and it took her sometimes to realize that it wasn’t the hunger taking a toll on her body or the sleepiness taking over, but  her own raven hair. She stared at her own body : almost naked ; her own hands, full of wrinkle because of her long stay in hr water bed, her own pale skin. Nothing rang a bell. It felt old : unfamiliar. Gross even. She felt dirty, as if she hadn’t bath in so long )when she just got out of one. Even her own scent was of a stranger. She hiccuped. And motivated by the sudden disgust of herself she knelt and tried to get a glimpse of her face in the remaining water still. Surely she had to be something there : something stuck that made her feel this way. 

 

A stranger stared back at her : almond eyes, as black as the night, matching her still dripping wet raven hair. She was beautiful ; she was clean. She was…

 

Who was she ? 

 

The blue light above her, or maybe her movement as she tried to get a better view of herself, frowning and trying to recognize her own reflection, made her notice one faint scar on her torso. It was still glowing from the same blue sparkles dancing all around her. She had mistaken this for light dust, sparkles of her tiredness, but she couldn’t ignore it anymore. She ran her finger through the scar, mapping it, analyzing it, her brain focusing on what she made sense, what she still knew. 

 

That should have killed me, she realized. 

 

The thought resonned within her body, like the remnant of an old dream, a certitude that had been lost to the time, the cold cribbling in her bones, the fear still hidden in her heart. And suddenly, she knew why she felt so disgusted. 

 

I should have been dead ! 

 

It pilled with everything else. 

 

I should know where i am ! I should recognize my face ! I should know that voice ! I should know that name ! I should have done better ! I should have…

 

She curled up in a ball but couldn’t let out a scream, all she heard was her erratic breath, a voice that was her but was as unfamiliar than everything else. 

 

She should know her voice too. But she didn’t. and it frightened her to no end. She tried to gather what she still had ; what still made sense, as she lied back in her watery bed. But all that came to her mind were chemical equation, atoms, knowledge she couldn’t quite figure out the purpose yet. Was she some kind of scientist ? 

 

She remembered the contact of a sword in her hand, and as she rubbed her palm, she noticed old traces of countless blisters. It was as pale as the faint scar in her torso, but still there. Still something. Somehow, it comforted her : she didn’t pop in existence here. Alone. She existed before. She was someone before. 

 

There had to be something else. Someone, someone who knew her. The voice from before. The man’s voice ! He couldn’t be far off. He had to know what she had forgotten. He had…

 

He had to be someone important to her. 

 

She stood up, and for the first time looked around. Aware of her surrounding, and awake. 

 

The place was old, yet had the eerie aura of of a secret garden. It had no flower wall, but old decoration carved in the rock wall, as beautiful as roses. It reminded her more of constellations. Maybe she was in some kind of heavenly field, waiting before the after life ? Was there an afterlife ? She couldn’t remember her beliefs about it. Veins seemed to go trough there, phosphorescent and blue, and maybe it was an illusion but it seemed to pulse in the rythm of her heartbeat. If her heart was beating ; she had to be alive, right ?

 

No one was there - but the disappointment didn’t strike her, on the contrary she felt reassured no one witnessed being so lost. She had time to gather herself and put up a good front. She had...to find back her composure. 

 

As she made her first step. Her feet left a trace in the dust, and it danced a moment before fading in a blue sparkles. She was surprised by the strenght in her legs : she couldn’t shake the feeling that she should have been more tired, hungry and weak. But maybe she should stop to worry about what she should feel, and focus more and what she could do. 

 

The room seeming to be in some kind of underground structure : she found no window around, and she couldn’t find any secret level in the carving. The whole purpose of the place seemed to be the watery bed she had been sleeping on, and was now empty. 

 

What a strange bedroom, she thought, if it was her, then it didn’t fit her now-taste. It was too solitary. It wasn’t scary, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that its atmosphere was more fit for a cemetary. Solennel and silent. Was it her tomb ? 

 

Again she asked herself : was she dead ? Did people built this for her ? 

 

She put a hand on her chest and tried to calm down, listening to her heartbeat. She wasn’t dead. It wasn’t her tomb. There had to ba a way out. People waited for her outside. It had to. because if it wasn’t...she didn’t know what to do. 

 

She suddenly noticed a pedestal near what might be a door -but looked so much as the other carving decoration around that it wasn’t so obvious in the first glance. As she walked to it, the pedestal started glowing and working. Gears put into motion and clicking revealed a strange slate with a blue eye printed on it. 

 

The voice rang again in her ears. 

 

_ This is the sheikah slate. Take it, it will guide your way after your long slumber.  _

 

A shiver ran down her spine, as the voice, resounded from thin air, without a body incaring it. She looked everywhere, trying to spot a figure, anyone, hidding in the shadow ; but nothing. 

 

-Where are you ? 

 

Her own voice sounded raspy and more desperate that she had wanted to. In comparison, the man’s tone sounded more familiar than her own, and it hurt so much. 

 

-Please show yourself ! Do you know where am i ? What am i doing here ? How long did i sleep ? 

 

And finally the question that she cared the most came out of her lips : 

 

-Do you know who i am ?

 

No one answered. She felt like crying, but she didn’t. She breathed back her tears, and turned to the pedestal. She couldn’t afford to break down right now. She needed answers. She needed to get out of here. Maybe, maybe everything would make sense later. Maybe if she followed his instruction, everything would put into place. She looked around one last time, and the truth hit her at full force : what else could she do after all? She had no other plan. 

 

So she took the mysterious tablet with a glowing center, the  _ Sheikah plate.  _  She had never held it before -at least as far as she knew- the contact was as cold and unfamiliar as her own skin. Yet she felt nostalgic as she held it. As if she had found an old treasure she thought she had lost. 

 

The tablet emitted a sound, and the gear reacted to it, the whole room started to shake, as a whole part of the wall rolled away, opening a path. 

 

Well, so far so good. At least now, she wasn’t trapped anymore, she supposed. 

 

She kept the tablet in her hand, as the clothes she was wearing had not such thing as pocket. It looked like a red swimsuit ; but it was trashed and teared open, leaving her torso nude and supporting in no way her chest. She would have to find another outfit, eventually, she realized. She tried not to think that maybe the piece of cloth were torn apart the day she received her scar. 

 

The next room was an old corridor, as dusty and abandonned as the last one. But there were two chests. She didn’t know if it was her property, but she supposed that if there was once upon a time an owner to these two, it was long gone. So she took a look. 

 

The first was full of old clothes, but in such a state that it had probably been left rotting here for years. All that was still salvageable was an old cape. She felt a bit gross about taking it -it was not dirty and full of hole- but it offered better protection than what she was wearing. So she fought the disgusted feeling and did what she had to. 

 

It felt strange on her skin -like everything did, even her own scent. It amplified the feeling of guilt and disgust she already had about her own body. It itched. Everywhere. 

 

The other chest didn’t want to open, until she hit it with her feet -and hurt herself in the process. She found boots, belt full of pocket and even an accessory she used to tie up her hair into a ponytail. It was too long and wet, she couldn’t afford to get bothered by it as she was looking for a way out. 

 

Another pedestal was there, on the back of the room, under strange glowing lamp she couldn’t reach. She tried to climb but the wall was unaturally slippery, even with the wooden carve she couldn’t find a good grip on it. So she held the Sheikah slate in front of her to glow up her path. At least it was useful for that. And she found some sort of clip on the belt where she could probably hung it off -she would try to do it once she had more light. 

 

As she reached the pedestal, the voice rang again, and she started to think that maybe, it was disincarned pre-recorded message and not an human voice. Even if the thought made her sad. 

 

_ Hold the sheikah slate up to the pedestal ; that will show you the way.  _

 

She did as she was told, again, the dread feeling setting inside her heart. Even if it was a pre-recorded message and not another human - or even if it was an earing hallucination, at least it guided her out. You had to see the whole situation under a positive light !

 

Again, the slate reacted to the structure, and the structure reacted to the slate  in another way than the last one. Way less gears moving and ground shaking, and more blue light pulse. This time she heard “authentificating…” and finally, after some times; “Sheikah slate confirmed”. It wasn’t the same voice as before. It didn’t sound like a voice, if felt as if she had read than rather than heard it. Synesthisia, her mind screamed. But she couldn’t think about it too long as another door opened. 

 

This time, there was light. Not artificial blue light, sunlight. It blinded her a little and she put an hand to protect her eyes. After the cave so long, she wasn’t used to it anymore. Yet she felt wind on her skin, it blew off her mind and her tiredness away as the scent of nature, tree and flowers, blew away the dust. For the first time since she had woken up, she felt good. 

 

She was free. 

 

The voice resounded again, sending her chills, as warm and the ray. 

 

_ Momo, you are the light -our light, my light- that must shine upon hyrule once again.  _

 

Momo. That was her name. 

 

The words awakened some strange emotions inside her heart -contradictory- she suddenly felt more trapped than in the cave, minutes before, weight of an unknow responsabilty on her back ; yet ; she also felt needed.  _ Truly needed.  _ By this voice. By this man. Someone loved her enough to call her “his light”. 

 

Please, be real, she couldn’t help but whisper, as she walked through the light. 

 

_ Now go.  _

 

She could see the way out now. After a couple of stairs she had no trouble to climb up. At some point she face a tiny wall, that had absolutely no purpose on the path -maybe it had been another stair in the past, even though the absence of rumbles might go against this theory, there was only only a puddle of water and mud left. But at least wasn’t covered with the same slippery magic of the other. She had no problem to reach the top, and was even amazed by her own ability. It was easy, as if she had done that all her life -maybe she had, as far as she knew it was a possibility. She had been athletic in the past. 

 

Smart, and athletic, she thought, suddenly feeling proud of her past self she didn’t know. 

Before the feeling of guilt came back and reminded her : not enough, though, to this. Her finger curled on her scar. She decided to worry about that later, when she knew the full story, and gathered her courage once again. 

 

As the exit came closer she couldn’t help but start running : as if it could still escape her grasp, as if it was an hallucination. But it wasn’t, and with one last step she was out of the cave. On the top a hill full of soft grass. 

 

All her eyes fell upon she saw nothing but wildness. Nature went as far as she could see, filling the horizon with the sound of cheerful birds and the forever buzzing of insects. After the silent echo of her steps in the cave, it sounded as beautiful as piano and flute duet. 

 

And for the first time since she was awake, she had a certitude : this is amazing 

 

It didn’t matter at what time it was, as it was in the past, and it would still forever be in the future. 

 

This is the great plateau, she read, like she had read rather than heard the sheikah authentification, her synesthesia, wasn’t doing better. Maybe she had hit her head a little bit too many times in the past.  

 

The neverending horizon made her fidget on her feets, and she felt like screaming and dancing. She had noticed the shadow of a volcano far away, and neared the shadow of a castle town : surely, someone would know her of she went there ! Surely, it was her destination. Surely, everything would made senses soon enough ! Relieved, she couldn’t help but kneel and touch the soft grass -barely resisting the need to lie in the daze, roll into the scent of the nature until it felt right, until it felt like herself once again. She found a rock, and as she wondered if she could sit there and enjoy the sunlight warming up her bones, she spotted a tiny figure far underneath the path. 

 

An old man stood there, standing here, as if he had waited her since forever. As he caught her gaze on him, he turned his back and went to sit near a fire camp : as a silent invitation to join. 

 

Maybe she wouldn’t have to wait to reach the town to know the truth. 

 

Momo turned around, gazing one last time at the horizon, the wild nature underneath her feet, and, despite everything, despite not knowing one bit about this place and land, she felt at peace, as all that stood before her was yet to discover. The magic feeling of the the adventure chased away the fear of the unknown. 

  
  



	2. The Great plateau : the grumpy old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't attend to be so long to deliver this chapter...but life got in the way (and especially winter holidays). I hope you'll still like it =D  
> I had a lot of fun imagining who is who, and I hope you'll have fun too.  
> As you can guess, this story is going to be very slow at the beginning.

The old man was sitting by the fire camp, and the scent of baked apples made Momo’s stomach grumble ; bringing water to her mouth. She hadn’t realized how  _ hungry,  _ she had been before. The thought of stealing it never crossed her mind, as she saw on the way to the fire camp she had spotted muschrooms and branches, she could probably made her own camp and dinner at some point -if the man was kind enough to let her take a sparkle of his fire, she couldn’t remember how to start one on her own with just wood-, so she didn’t need to be dishonest. Besides, she wanted to get answer from the old man and so happy to see someone -anyone- who might answer her questions, unlike the voice in her head. 

And Godess, it sounded even worse than she thought, phrased it like that. She hoped the man was secretly a doctor too.

 

But unfortunately she doubted it as she came closer : from afar, the man had seemed small and old, but from closer look it wasn’t the case. He was big and well built : like a man who had spent his whole life fighting. Maybe a soldier, before? The rag that he wore -like she was one to talk- barely hid his muscles nor his serious expression, which looked even more grim because of a large scar that ate half on his face, as if he had been burned down. She wondered how he didn’t lost his vision when he got that one. Maybe, like her, he went into the tomb and awaken in good shape again. Maybe he knew what she had been through. Maybe everything that was happening to her was normal and she just forgot it with everything else. She hoped it was the case.

 

“Oh. That’s not everyday i see a new face here, the old man said, as she approached.”

 

Her enthusiasm fell hard : the man didn’t seem to know her at all. The light of his camp played on his face’s features, making the scar looks ever nastier and his red beard even looked like it was actual fire. That lus the fact that he sounded grumpy, made her wonder if she was even welcome here. Feeling like he might chase him rather sooner than later she decided to go straight to the point and asked :

 

“Can you tell me who you are, please?”

 

He only grumbled, or maybe it was a laugh, she was not sure, anyways he answered as he stared back at his fire :

 

“Interested in an old man like me? I was someone important, before, but it doesn’t matter now.”

 

She felt a bit sad for the man, as it felt like she hit a sore spot :

 

“I'm sorry. But you’re important to me right now if that is any consolation ; i need your help...”

 

She almost added “Do you know who am i” but she feared to sound like a weirdo, and make him run away. Besides if he had any clue, he would have not called her a “new face” before.

 

The man grumbled again, this time she was sure it was some kind of broken laugh.

 

“Ah! You’re trying to comfort me, out of all people ! You’re really a special case aren’t you? Who are you, and what brings you to this land?”

 

She gulped ; as she had no idea about it either, so instead she went directly to the question that made the most sense to her :

 

“Do you know how this land is named? Where are we? Is there a town nearby?

-Answering question by tons of other questions ? Youngsters these days, i swear to you they never made any senses to me…But i’ve seen worse and i can’t let you wander alone and lost or you will cause troubles. Let me help you. I’m sure we didn’t met by chance. We are standing on the Great plateau ! The land that once gave birth to Hyrule, as the legends told.”

 

He stood and pointed the horizon with a flaming stick he had probably used to revive his fire before. Too obsessed with the old man -and to have answer to her questions- Momo had missed the shadow of a big temple, on the top of a little hill a little farther. A pond separated them from this but she could see a path leading to it a little below. If there was a temple, surely, there had been a town nearby, and so life, and maybe people who knew her ! The name of Hyrule didn’t ring a bell, but...

 

“This is an old temple, the old man continued without caring, it hold every important ceremony back in the time. But one hundred years ago it was destroyed, along with the whole kingdom of Hyrule.”

 

Her heart fell hard again. Destroyed? As she turned to the old man she saw sadness -and even more so- in his blue eyes. Those eyes. They seemed familiar somehow, or maybe it was the sadness filling it that resounded deep within her heart.

 

“This place is long gone now, and all there is left is ruins.”

 

Then he sat back, seemingly having said all he had to say. Her heart heavy in her chest, Momo wondered what to do -comfort the man?- they knew nothing about each other. But he seemed sad and desperate. And she was lost and alone and no idea what to do anymore. If there wasn’t a town nearby, where should she go?

 

Her stomach grumbled, very, very loudly, and she blushed. The man coughed, hiding his smile, and said :

 

“You can take some of my baked apples. I’m not hungry anyways.”

 

“Thank you ! M-My name is Momo, and what is yours?

-None of your concern.”

 

She decided to name him Grumpy, in the secrecy of her mind, then, and as she sat to eat, her share in silence. She tried a few times to start the conversation, but Grumpy didn’t see to care. One apple wasn’t enough to fill her stomach though, and she decided to see what else she could bring to eat and cook by the fire. She supposed that, if the man let her eat his meal, he would probably not be opposed that she used her fire too. Before leaving she noticed a torch laying near the rock cave.

 

“What are you doing with my torch? Suddenly barked Grumpy.”

 

She had done nothing but stare, and felt herself completely surprised by his reaction. A little lost and eager not to lose the only person to talk to -even if he wasn’t that nice- she explained :

 

“Nothing, i just came from a cave a little bit up ahead and i saw the torch and thought that i…”

 

Well nothing really, she hadn’t need any light back there.

 

“I see, Grumpy said, looking annoyed, maybe i could lend you mine until you could make your own then. But don’t go put everything on fire here ! Fire spread so fast here you would be surprised !”

 

His reaction was so weird. Was he somehow moody?  She still accepted the present with a thanks, and since she had it, decided to go find some mushrooms and apples on the way back to the cave.

 

That’s when she heard the sound of her own step that she realized that she wasn’t walking on grass anymore. Or to be more precise, that there was something more than grass. It looked like an old rock stair, forgotten by time and left to the uncaring arms of the nature. Staring at the vestige of an old past -who climbed those stairs before her, who built it, was it to reach the mountain and the tomb she had been sealed off?- she couldn’t help but remember the old man’s word. This place was called Hyrule before. This place had been a town, a home, a place of life. And as she stood here, surrounded by nothing but wildness and ruins, she couldn’t help but feel helpless. What had happened? Not only to her but to this place?

 

She shook her head, trying to get out of this bad thoughts : nothing good would come out of it. She needed to focus on something more practical. Useful. Something that would not make her feel so little, and weak and scared.

 

Momo found a lot of mushrooms, and even found a young apple tree on her way back to the camp. That would replace the one she ate, she decided as she started to climb it. She was almost at the top of it, when someone called her name again :

 

“Momo…”

 

Her vision got blurry and she missed the apple she was aiming for. Looking around she saw no one -even the old man was nowhere to be seen. Was she hallucinating again?

 

“Momo…”

 

She shivered, recognizing the voice from the cave. The familiar one. The one who never answered her.

 

“Not now please, I am little busy, she still said.

-Momo !”

 

This time she fell of the tree, surprised by the scream. And the apple landed on her head. Thank you the voice. Was this going to become a habit ? She surely hoped not!

 

“This was dangerous you know ! I could have really hurt myself ! Be more cautious !”

 

She felt stupid for conversing with the voice in her head.

 

“Head toward the place that is on your sheikah plate !”

 

Well she didn’t remember the guy who was talking in her head, but he sure was bossy. She pulled out of her cape the said plate, and tried a few time to see what he was talking about. She hadn’t had the time to play a lot with it, too focused on...Well everything else. The controller was a bit weird, unfamiliar unlike the rest. It took her a few attempt before finding...Well a black screen with a single yellow spot.

 

Woaw, that was the worst map she even fell upon. No that it meant anything since she had no memory of any, but she still knew that it wasn’t supposed to look like that. At the very least it showed her her actual position. She looked around and tried to evaluate where she was supposed to go. Maybe the temple? At least it was in this direction.

 

“Wouldn’t that be easier to just like, say to me “go there please?”

 

No answer of course, the voice was gone. A little bit annoyed and bruised, she stood back and decided that she would indeed go that way -since she had no other option- but only after a good meal ! Besides, the rational part of her mind was still reluctant to blindly obey to an hallucination. So she resumed her food-collecting quest.

 

While going to the place indicated on the map.

 

Momo sighed, judging her weak will ; she was too soft with the hallucination man’s voice. But hey, what could she do ?

 

She passed before another camp -abandonned this time- with an axe left to rot. The grumpy old man was nowhere to be seen anymore, but his fire was still on (and he dared her to be careful with the fire !). Maybe she could use this place to sleep if she had found nothing before the night fall. Her eyes fell upon the pond. A weird cliff looked like the perfect place to dive into the water.

 

A little bit of rebellion arose in her heart. Okay, she would do as the voice told her to do...But after a good meal AND a good bath. She needed it. Even more so, she deserved it. The desire was amplified when she spotted a perfectly round flower circle floating on the surface of the water. It was almost romantic (as much as it could be when she was alone) and Momo decided to see it like the universe’s approbation of her decision.

 

So she jumped. With her clothes on because it stinked and it needed a wash as much as her. Hell with consequence, she could put them to dry near the fire camp.

 

But when she hit the water, something, really, really weird happened. Again. She didn’t have the time to enjoy the fresh sensation of the water on her body, as another voice -a woman’s voice this time- sing sang :

 

“Ya-ha-ha ! You found me !”

 

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest, and she frantically looked around, to find absolutely _no one._

 

“Who’s there ?” she still asked to the nothingness, a little bit hopeless. Please, she wished, let it not be another hallucination. How many people lived in her head? She was seriously considering to get out of the water and search the whole land -not stopping until she found a doctor- when the voice actually responded :

 

“Huh? You can hear me?”

 

Oh thanks goodness, at least this one voice was answering. She stopped, realizing what she had just thought, and decided that she was just desperate at this point.

 

“Yes, she stated, nearly gulping a bit of water when she opened her mouth.”

She swam near a little rock, to sit on, as it would be easier to talk that way. She wasn’t that good of a swimmer, she discovered, and was already tired. Feeling nothing underneath her feets put her on edge and she was afraid to drown any moment.

 

“Wow, that’s unusual ! Usually people of your kind can’t even hear me. Can you see me too? Asked the voice, sounding happy. My name is Tooru Hagakure by the way ! I’m a korogu !”

 

Momo sighed in relief : the voice could answer her ! And she seemed friendly and disposed to answer her questions !

 

“My name is Momo, she said, and i’m sorry, but i can’t see you…”

 

She looked around again, for good measure, but that statement remained true.

 

“Aw, don’t worry about it, even my kind can’t see me ! I’m special you know ? Korogu usually are invisible to everyone but children, but i’m invisible to everyone.

-That seems...A bit unconvenient.

-It’s super inconvenient ! But fun also. I can make pranks and no one know it’s me. Unless i wear clothes on, then they see my clothes.

-Do you mean you’re naked right now?

-Yeah, totally naked and freezing ! But hey, it’s great you can hear me still ! I wonder is it what your people call “having a child's soul”?”

 

The expression was totally unfamiliar to Momo’s ears, and she assumed that Tooru must had heard wrong. But still, naked? Well she wasn’t the one to talk, not with her clothes on who barely covered anything of her body, but still. That was embarrassing.

 

“Why are you here, Tooru? Do you know this place?

-Huh? Not really. You see i’m in a middle of a game with my friends. We’re playing hide and seek !

-You must be really good at it, given your special ability…

-Yes, i’m the best ! But that’s why i’m doing this kinda thing in the landscape.

-Like the flower ring you mean?

-Yes ! So my friend have a chance to find me. You wanna play too? The more the merrier!”

 

Momo didn’t know what to say -Hagakure seemed like a nice person, but she didn’t listen to her question, not really, too focused on her own things.

 

“I’m sorry, but i’m a bit busy at the moment, she explained.

-Really? What are you doing?

-Hum…Trying to find my way home, i suppose?”

 

That was true, it felt true. She wanted nothing but to find back her home and family, and her memory. And maybe the man who was talking directly to her head would be there. She hoped.

“I see! Well good luck then, said Hagakure, cheerfully. -I will be encouraging you from afar. Don’t hesitate to say hello if you find me again though, i would not mind a little chat with you. My friends suuuuure takes a long time to find me.”

 

Momo felt bad for her, she was feeling alone herself, with no memory, no goal except a point on a black map, and a voice in her head. She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be invisible, even to her friends, waiting for them to find you.

 

“Maybe...i could play off a little...When i have a time, would that be okay with you? she proposed.”

 

After all, what would it cost her? She had nothing to lose but time and she would be able to make someone happy. She could even gain a friend, who know? She felt a bit guilty -was she trying to run away from her fear, was she procrastinating?- but she felt like she was doing the right thing.

“Really? You would to that for me?”

 

Something hit her, and she felt a body pressed against her own, arms around her neck. And Momo recalled that the girl -because it was definitely a girl- was naked and soaked. She couldn’t help but blush from head to toe, at loss of word.  

 

“Thank you! Thank you! You’re super nice !”

 

Hagakure put something into Momo’s hand.

 

“Here, take it as a thanks !”

 

It was a weird looking seed. Golden and shaped like a poop, honestly. Hagakure didn’t seem to see the ugliness in it, and simply explained :

 

“It’s a koroku seed ! If you happen to see one of my friend, show it to them, they will know you’re my friend and they will be yours too!”

 

The word friend warmed Momo’s heart. A friend. She couldn’t remember having one, and the thought alone pained her, but now, she had. Tooru Hagakure. The Korogu. (Or maybe a more elaborate hallucination due to solitude, said the rational part of her mind that she decided to ignore). She could do with that.

 

“Hum. Maybe you shouldn’t show it to Mina thought, i kinda stole it from her maracas…!

-What?”

 

Her first friend was a thief !

 

Hagakure laughed.

 

“That was the only way to force them to actually play hide and seek with me!”

 

That was why they were taking so long to find her, they didn’t want to play in the first place !

 

“Anyways, i need to go and find a new spot to hide ! Oh i can’t wait to play with you Momo, we will have so much fun !”

 

And she left, or at least didn’t make any more sound, so Momo guessed she was long gone. She was left wondering in what kind of trouble she had dived -literally- into. What a weird place she had woken up ! A voice in her head, a grumpy old man with moodswing, and a invisible thief friend…

 

Momo wished she had -at least- a cup of coffee (or better tea) before having to deal with all of...That ! Including her memory loss and all. But she had nothing. And she was hungry, and wet ans standing in the windy breeze...So she jumped right back into the water and sulked.

  



	3. The Great Plateau : Bokoblins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo encounters Bokoblin for the first time and it is not pleasant.

Momo took her time. After a good bath -where the water wasn’t that deep- she caught some fishes, and let the sun dry her and her clothes on the top of the rock in the middle of the pond. She had found a old rusty sword there, and once she had it in her hand she felt the grip familiar, reassuring. So reassuring that when she lied on the grass, with it in her hands, she let out a big relieved sigh. The music of the nature around was the best lullaby ever. Gazing at the sky, there was no ruins and old forgotten kingdom ; just the wildness and the openness of the world. And it felt good, the temperature was perfect, the sound of the insect, the chirping bird of the wind in the tree. Everything was so peaceful...She had was almost safe, on her personal isle, surrounded by deep water. She felt less weak and loss than usual : now that she had a weapon, and the best tactical position to defend herself. As she rested her head on her folded cape she fell asleep.

 

Had she been a soldier, before, to be worrying about stuff like that ? She wondered. 

 

When Momo woke up, she was still in the place she fell asleep. Not in a tomb. She had still her memory from the previous day and none of before it. So she lit up a fire and ate all the fruits she had collected. All she could so was grill it, as she had not any cooking ustensile, but that was enough for now. The day was still clear, she was surprised by that, she thought that night should have fallen long ago, but it would fall, eventually, and despite having slept well there on her island, she realized it was not the best shelter at her disposal.

 

She felt a lot better now that she had rested and eaten. And she felt ready to go where the voice told her to go. Maybe there was a village ! She started running rather than walking, as she run downhill. 

 

She should have been more cautious, probably. But she didn’t. She missed the strange scream from her right side, assuming it was a bird, or maybe another animal of the forest. Before she could even understand what was happening, she was hit by something so hard. It sent her flying and crash into the ground. 

 

Her heart started pounding in her chest, as her field of vision became blurry wit stars, instinctively she rolled on her back, trying to understand what had happened. Then she saw the most ugly, ugly monster she ever recalled. Electric blue eyes, on a red pig face, the beast brandished a branch high, ready to attack her and she reacted instinctively; avoiding the hit. Again. And again. But she had fallen closer to a cliff than she had realized, and she basculed again, rolling all the way to the bottom. Her head hit the wall of a ruins. 

 

That didn’t stop the monster.

 

What the heck was that  _ thing?  _

 

He jumped from above, all on her, and tackled her down. Momo managed to put up her hands in front of her, and to stop him from biting her throat, but he kept hitting her with his branch. She tried to escape, to roll out and change the tide, but he was heavy and restless, she found no grip, she couldn’t find another grip : if she released its head, the monster would bite her neck and kill her ! She wasn’t strong enough ! She needed a weapon...A weapon ! 

 

The rusty sword she had found...She had put her on her belt, right next to the sheikah plate ! That…

 

But her hands were full right now ! She couldn’t move and take it without leaving an opening to the monster, and she was stuck between the hill and the ruin and…

 

The shivers ran down her spine. It was too much, she screamed for help, for the voice in her head for Hagakure, even for the grumpy old man. Anyone ! Anyone would do, as long as someone came to her help ! If they could only distract the monster long enough for her to take her weapon and…

 

But no one came to the rescue. 

 

_ I’m going to die!  _

 

The monster hit her again in the face, and she felt herself losing consciousness. She wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, she realized. 

 

_ I’m going to die without knowing anything !  _

 

She couldn’t accept that. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want...She had no choice ! She let go of the monster head -a moment just for a moment. And he dashed to her. She moved a bit and he bit her shoulder. Hard. She let out a scream, and couldn’t help but close one of her eyes. She only needed one to see him brandish his branch high. He was going to hit her again. 

 

Momo took her sword. But the belt was tangled and she couldn’t draw it properly. The monster grumped and his teeth sunk deeper in her skin, the branch hit her head again. But the movement managed to untangled her weapon. She managed to broke free and swing it. 

 

The monster yelped and let go of her shoulder. She felt something stingy fell upon her face. Drool? She didn’t take the time to confirm it. She rose up and swing her sword again. The monster had dropped his damn branch and she stepped on it, breaking it so he would not use it against her again. She had the upper hand, she tried to convince herself. 

 

But the passage they had fell was narrow, and she barely could move without the tilt of her sword hitting the rock wall of the ruins, she barely managed to keep hm at safe distance. But he didn’t give up on her, she was its prey.  He jumped everywhere, teeth and claws sharper than her rusty sword was. 

 

As it dashed to her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to defend herself again, a million thought came to her mind. In the middle of this mess of ideas and regrets, one stood out from the other :  _ the passage is narrow, he won’t be able to dodge. _

 

So she threw her weapon at full force. 

 

And she heard an awful, agonizing scream. A sword piercing his body, the monster fell to the ground, while Momo fell to her knees. Out of breath. She didn’t know how long she stayed that way, until coherent thoughts filled her head back, until she found a second to breath in, until she realized that it was over and that the monster would not raise up again, probably. 

 

_ What the heck had happened.  _

 

She put her hand on her shoulder, hissing at the pain. Her palm came back bloody. She needed a doctor. Now. She was covered of bruises too. Oh my god. A thing. A monster had attacked her.  _ For no reason.  _ It had tried to  _ eat her ! _

 

_ Calm down. Calm down. You have to stay calm!  _ She reminded herself, hardly. Nothing could be done while panicking. 

 

With shaking knees, she stood up, and approached the body of the beast. It was even worse than her memory : it looked like a pig that had learned to walk on two feets. She felt nauseous. She killed it.  _ It almost killed her ! _ Both thoughts made her sick equally. But one was even scarier.  _ Is there any more of that out on the wild?  _

 

Suddenly the world didn’t seem welcoming and pretty and peaceful anymore and she looked at the wildness with fear. The narrow space she had fell in left her as exposed as the monster was before, she wouldn’t be able to dodge anymore attack than it. 

 

She needed to find a town. A shelter. Anything. Anyone. 

 

But most of all she needed her weapon back. 

 

But as she tried to pull it out, it broke into pieces. As soon as the sword fell apart, the body of the monster  _ melted  _ into a blob of darkness, leaving only it horns and some bones. 

 

_ What the heck was that?  _

 

She repeated it again and again, as her state of panic rose. She tried to remind herself to keep calm, but how was she supposed to keep calm? Waking up with no memory, nothing but rags to put on, no one to talk except a grumpy old man who disappeared, and a invisible woman who was maybe a product of an hallucination, leading by a man’s voice who was  _ certainly  _ a product of her imagination...And now this ? This ?

 

_ You can’t break down here, you’re exposed. Later. Later !  _

 

The promise to let go later seemed to work, or maybe it was the to-do-list she mentally made that helped clear her head. Weapon first. Then shelter. Then something...Something to heal her shoulder. Help would be best if found. 

 

She regretted breaking the branch, at least it would have been better than nothing as a weapon. But it was too late now. 

 

As she wandered off the ruins, she found herself near an abandoned place, with a broken fountain. And a staircase that lead to the temple. She looked at the plate and realized that the point the voice told her to go wasn’t in this direction as she first thought. She didn’t know what was worth, but she hoped it would lead her to a town. But when she tried to go go, she saw a tiny red figure in the pathway. 

 

Another monster. 

 

She held out a yelp and immediately hide behind the broken fountain. Fortunately the beast hadn’t noticed her yet. Fear making her sick. There was no way she could fight that again. She had no weapon. She was hurt.  _ She was scared.  _ She was alone _.  It’s dangerous to go alone, she heard herself think.  _ So slowly but surely, she ran away on the opposite direction, climbing the stair. 

 

It was a bad idea. 

 

As she went up, she only discovered more desolation and destruction than before. Houses had been constructed here before, but you could barely call that anymore as it was nothing but rubbles now. Not even a roof remained. And as she walked by, she saw it. 

 

A strange iron statue, rusting away, under a bit of moss. 

 

At first she thought nothing of it, but as she came closer and passed by, she couldn’t help but stare at the strange figure. Unlike some god idols, it inspired her nothing but fear. Why ? She blamed her last fight for that. Still, when  a crack resonned behind her back she couldn’t help but scream and turn to the statue, certain it had started moving and was about to attack.

 

But it was only her imagination. 

 

What wasn’t her imagination though, was the monster she encountered a little step ahead. And this one had a massue in its hands. 

 

_ They’re everywhere !  _

 

She tried to run away but it noticed her before she could do anything and dashed to her. She couldn’t stand another hit, she just knew it, she was too tired. She tried to outrun it. But failed miserably, tripping on her own feets. Again she found herself lying on the ground and the monster about to jump and hit and this time she had no weapon to save herself needed a weapon…

 

_ She needed a weapon !  _ A branch, a wood, would do !  _ Anything!  _ She thought of the abandoned axe she had saw earlier and wished to have that one instead. Wood and iron.  God she had been so stupid to not take it. 

 

She closed her eyes, almost feeling the familiar grip of the iron stick in her hand and…

 

The monster was upon her. Instinctively she tried to hit him back with her fist, her arm feeling so heavy and slow and… She hit the beast. 

 

She shouldn’t have been able to hit it : her arm was too short. Except that now it was not. Something was coming out of it. A stick...Something was coming out of her arms ? The monster, as confused as her, shook his head and screamed, enraged. She didn’t leave him time to recover and swung her arm again. Hit him.  Whatever was coming out of it, it didn’t matter at this point. Except that it was an axe and the iron blade was popping out right when she hit the monster head.

 

It was horrible. The head fell off, the massue dropped to the ground, the axe detached from her arm and hit the ground, bloody but as good as new. And the thing was dead. 

 

_ Panic later, t _ hought Momo. 

 

But she panicked  _ now.  _ Taking the massue and the new axe in both hand and starting to run to the temple as fast as she could, barely noticing anything anymore. 

 

_ What the heck was happening. What the heck was happening. What the heck what that. And what the heck was she?  _

 

Something grew out of her skin, right? Or was she hallucinating again? No she had the axe right in her hand and…

 

Another monster was on her way, but this time she was ready, and maybe because she was so damn scared she hit it first and didn’t stop until it was dead at her feet, melting like all the other. 

 

At this point Momo was out of breath, and out of idea, and out of patience, out of everything. The day was still clear -how the heck was it still clear? it felt like she had been awake for weeks already !- and she had no shelter, nothing. 

 

The strange statues were everywhere too, looking even more threatening than the first one, stopped right in their path of destruction, climbing the vestige of the houses by rust. 

 

It was a nightmare. She was having a nightmare. She was living a nightmare. 

 

Then she heard a song, slow and peaceful. It felt so out of place too. Just like her, that it drew her.  It sounded like a lullaby. It felt like a promise. A promise that everything would be all right. That she could rest. It came out from the temple. She had reached it. Finally. 

 

But, yet again, her hopes fell apart as it was just a bigger ruins than the rest. No orchestra in it. No one playing the song she was still hearing. She was hallucinating again. Still. Whatever. 

 

The place had probably been magnificent back in the time. With high ceiling, beautiful stained glasses and arches everywhere. But she didn’t care less as it was just a pile of rock holding a little bit better than the rest now. And she was tired, and scared and she had blood in her eyes, her shoulder hurt…

 

She didn’t know what to do anymore. At least there was no monster here, but she still was alone. 

 

_ Stay calm. Panic later ! _

 

But she had enough. As she reached the back of the temple and face the loving gaze of the statue of some goddess and she felt nothing but despair and frustration and helplessness. The goddess looked so content with herself, so proud and loving while she threw at Momo monsters, and all this and that...And...

 

“What the heck is that ?” She finally screamed to the goddess. 

 

She dropped everything, her weapong, her pride, her mental sanity. She was so done with everything. Her eyes fell on the bottom of the statue, where the words "One for All" had been carved in gold, then recovered by moss. The name itself seemed to mock her. She definitely fell alone right now.

 

“Answer me!”

 

She didn’t know who she was talking to anymore : the voice in her head, the god? Who cares. No one answered anyways.

 

“What is happening to me and what happened to this world !”

 

She fell to her knees and looked at her arms. The arms where an axe had grew out of nowhere. She started shaking. That was not normal. That was not normal that she was sure off ! But what was she sure of ? Nothing? She knew nothing. Bunch of knowledge about chemicals reactions that had no use, and nothing else. She had nothing. 

 

She curled into herself, and started crying. 

 

“What is wrong with me…?” She pleaded the goddess to answer. 

 

But she was met with nothing but silence. 

  
  



	4. The Great Plateau : The tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of Momo being alone. After this I start to change things form Zelda lore to adapt to the bnha lore a little more. I hope you'll like it.  
> I confess I changer the old hermit outfit because it fit the new color pages of the scans !

Momo waited for hours, she screamed, and cried to her heart content, but nothing happened. The old man didn’t come to help, nor the night fell, nor the goddess answered her questions. 

 

No one was going to help. She could count only on herself, she realized. 

 

This certitude brought a weird kind of solace in her heart and helped calm her down. Her back to the godess’ statue, she sing sang an old melody that got stuck in her head. Slow and sad, fitting for the emotion swelling her chest. She didn’t know where the song came from, but it helped. It helped kill this oppression silence and solitude. 

 

And when anger and fear finally faded away, all was left to Momo was hunger and wounds. She had to get on, and move on. That much she knew. 

 

Yes, she could stay here forever, no one was going to force her to leave ; apparently no monster came this far. But if she stayed her forever, she would die here, all alone, knowing nothing. And that she couldn’t accept. So she stood up, yet again. This time with, not a song, but a plan in her head. 

 

She made a mental to-do-list to keep her busy and her mind occupied. To fill the day with something, at least, since there were no hours. 

 

-Heal your shoulder.

-Check out the ruins.

-Avoid monsters.

-Eat.

-Rest.

-Go where the voice told you to 0(but find out before if it’s not an hallucination leading you to your doom)

-Find out what you did yesterday when you fought.

-See if you can do it again.

-Hopefully find civilization while accomplishing any of these task ahead.

  
  


First, she needed to tend to her wound. Her shoulder was red with dryed blood. Somehow it protected her from bleeding to death ; but she needed to clean it up, and put something on it. But for that she needed to know where she was and what was around ; would she need to scavengers the ruins around, and was there a town nearby ? 

 

After a little bit of hesitation she decided to climb on the top of the temple. The surface was old, with plants all over and full of holes in the stones. She had more reserves on her stamina and climbing skill, especially as wounded as she was. So she turned around the temple before hand to find the best post to start ; the left one had been half destroyed, and a giant iron statue was frozen midway in the devastation. She used that to her advantage ; making pause as soon as she felt like she couldn’t go further. She reached the roof quite fast than she had expected. 

 

Maybe she wasn’t that much protected by her clothes, but it made her lighter than with a full armor. (She would still rather choose a full armor over this, especially during fight). She still thanked the fact that she was not heavy with equipment : because the roof looked like it would collapse at her very first step on it. She was as careful as possible, and made her way to the main tower of the temple, where she expected to find a bell. There was none. But she found an old chest with a bow in it. Maybe the temple was more of a war hold than she had previously thought. The chest had no arrow in it, but she still took the bow. 

 

Then she looked around ; hoping, yet trying not to. 

 

All she could see was ruins. And more ruins. Oh and a ruined bridge really far off. and forests and mountains too. She was truly alone in there.  Correction ; when she looked around she saw a rock formation that looked like a skull, and she was pretty sure she saw little point that looked like the monsters from before around it. So she was  _ alone with monsters.  _

 

At this point she only felt tired, no more scared. At least knowing their hideout would allow her to, maybe, avoid them. Momo was trying to be as optimistic as one can be.  

 

Looking at her tablet, she managed to find what the voice wanted her to go : another rock formation far ahead that looked like nothing and surely not civilization. So she put this task to the bottom of her list ; she would go after she had done everything else. But thank to that she discovered that she could use her tablet to look around ; there was a sort of zoom in it ! And when she clicked around…

 

“Wow !” Escaped her lips, as a red light column appeared at the exact spot she was looking at. 

 

Afraid she had made a mistake -this was quite a visible column and every monster would certainly be drawn to that !- she stopped moving and gazed at the hideout of the monsters she had previously saw. But no activity responded to the apparition. Maybe she was the only one seeing it ? 

 

She could probably add this to the list of “things that make no sense” at this point, which was way longer than her to-do-list by the way.

 

Just in case, she marked only the point the voice wanted her to go : if the thing had bad effect -like drawing monster and musquito-, she would find out. Since she had decided to report this task. 

 

As she turned back to climb down, she saw something in the field. Her heart started to beat faster. 

 

A house ! She saw a wooden house ! Civilization at least ! That would be her top first destination then ! 

 

Well, no. After looking a bit further and trying to see how to go there, she realized that it would take some time. Her shoulder needed to be at least cleaned. And she needed to eat too. But after that ; she would go ! 

 

The pond where she had met Tooru was near. And the campfire of the old man. She rushed to the ground, making sure to not fall and break a leg. The fall hurt a bit of her knew but she managed better than she thought. 

 

So Momo went out of the temple, and made her way to this as fast as she could. Taking everything she found on the road ; apples, plants and even wooden stick alike. It would make a weapon if the worst happened. If she couldn’t do what she had done yesterday. She still needed to find out what had happened. 

 

“You don’t have an idea about what had happened, by any chance?” She asked the void. 

Of course no one answered. Seemed like the voice only talked when he wanted, it was an only one way discussion. 

 

At least she saw no monster replacing the one she had killed the day before, on her way back. And the fire of the old man was still there too. Just ; the old man wasn’t there anymore. She cleaned up her shoulder, and when she saw it started to bleed again, she took a deep breath..And put an old ember on the wound. It burned. It hurt like hell. But she swallowed her scream ; afraid it would draw monsters to her position. Then she cleaned it again with water ; hoping it would sting less. It didn’t. But now she was -maybe- safe from infection. 

 

Momo stopped : wondering briefly how she knew so many thing about first aid. But one look around : at the ruins, at the robots, and she knew that, somehow, this place ; this world ; wasn’t friendly. She tried not to make hypothesis without more proof, but this place looked like it had been a great battlefield before. Whoever she had been before ; she probably had to fight to survive just like she was doing right now. 

 

She forbid herself to think that she had been better off sleeping, in this tomb, alone. Maybe it was hard now ; but she was conscious. She could decide what to do. She could decide to fight or give up. 

 

As she started baking apples on the old man camp : solitude and despair made its way to her heart again, but she pushed those feeling aside to focus on her plan. 

 

She still had something else to do : try to make what happened during the fight, again. She took a bit of her lunch, checked her surrounding to be sure not to be attacked by surprise, and closed her eyes. 

 

It was hard, to remember the panic that had taken over her previously. The fear of dying. The fear of not being heard by anyone. The fear to disappear without leaving any trace and whatsoever, not even knowing what had made her end. She fought it back.

 

She remembered wishing for a weapon and then it was in her hand. So she tried that. Picturing a sturdy sword, not like the one she had before, rusted and fragile, but one with a blue handle that would fit the mark on her palm. 

 

Nothing. 

 

Maybe she needed to be panicked? Just like before? She wondered, but finally choose not to test that option : she barely hold it together she didn’t know if she could come back from the panic again. 

 

Maybe she needed to know the weapon. After all when she thought about it, she had the clear vision of the old axe. The same one she was now gazing at : at the exact same spot as before. The one she hadn’t take because she had assumed it was the old man’s possession. At least she knew now that she hadn’t summoned it in her hand : so the miracle didn’t work that way. 

 

Her eyes on the weapon, she tried again and even vocalized her effort into one order : 

 

“In my hand !”

 

Nothing happened. Of course. Would have been so covenient ! But, as she discovered, Momo wasn’t the kind to give up ; she tried again. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 

 

_ Remember ! The monster, the panic, what did you do then ? What did you think ? _

 

Strangely, the echo of her thought sounded almost like the man’s voice from her hallucinations. She knew, for sure, that it wasn’t. It was what she was thinking herself. But her heart still beat faster, as she felt less alone and less weak ; imagining someone caring and be there, trying with her. 

 

_ What had she thought ? _ That she needed a weapon to fight.  _ What had she thought ?  _ She thought about the axe she had not taken back then.  _ What had she thought ?  _ She thought about it was a so simple weapon : only wood and iron, but as she would still take it, anythin-

 

Something happened, and she opened up her eyes as an axe started to grow out of her limbs. Not appearing in her hand but truly growing out of her fingers and palm. She yelped, breaking the concentration and the object stopped. It stopped growing  _ midway.  _ Only the blade and a bit of the wood handle out…

 

Millions of thoughts went to Momo. Where was the rest. -Inside her arm?-How did she take that OUT. -She shook her arm but the thing didn’t came off- How did she do that. As she thought of the process again, this time her eyes opened, she realized. 

 

The weapon was not summoned, it felt more like it was created directly from her skin. And it started growing out only when she analyzed what it was made of, iron and wood. The axe fell on the ground with a metal sound ; finished. And she checked : it was the exact twin of the old man’s axe. 

 

“So. I need to know the weapon, or at least having seen it, and know what it’s made of…” She said aloud, as the feeling of order, rightfulness, and power started to come back. 

 

Momo could make a do with that. She could survive with that kind of ability ! She wasn’t so powerless, after all ! 

 

But as she thought about it, she felt dizzy, and almost dropped to her knees, her stomach twisted by hunger despite the fact that she had just eaten. 

 

Maybe...this power took more than that, she guessed.  _ Is this normal? To have this power?  _

 

She didn’t know. She didn’t remember. She tried to analyze her feeling over it, but her heart and mind were a mess, and a tangle of various emotions. Only one fear stroke her, whispering by paranoïd fear that hadn’t left since her battle with the monster: 

 

_ Maybe that was the reason why you were sealed in that tomb. Because of this very power.  _

 

She shook her head and tried not to think about this possibility. That would be a problem for tomorrow, when she would reach civilization. A problem to keep in the back of her mind to be careful and weary when the time come. But not a problem to care now. She didn’t need to beat herself over with worry when the threat of being beaten over by monsters was more urgent. 

 

She could use this power -whatever it was and whoever blessed her with it- but she needed to be careful not to burn all her energy. So just in case, she baked more apples (and ate some) and folded her cape in her back to make a bag. That way she would always have something to eat and replenish her energy. She still ignored many things -how long it would take for her to be okay after overusing her power- but that would need further training. 

  
  


The wooden cabin called her ; it would be the perfect place to stop and take the time to train. Feeling full of energy and optimism, she ran back to the temple. When she was on the top of the structure, she had seen the path leading to the wooden cabin : a long corridor between rock that passed right in front of the monsters nest. She couldn’t afford to go there. But maybe if she let herself slide the back of the mountain where the temple was build...Just maybe, she could reach there without taking risks. Now that her shoulder was somehow clean, she felt okay with trying -if she got stuck on the other side...Well at least she had made everything she could here before. 

 

On her way, she visited the ruins in front of the temple : and did well, as she found a pair of pants in an old destroyed furniture. It was too short for her to wear it : as it was children sized, but she ripped it off and made a band aids from it. 

 

As she was about to cross the passage, she hesitated though. She was neared the place where the voice asked her to go. But the place had nothing. But the voice…! 

 

But if she got stuck on the other side ? If the cabin had no one. If the cabin had no water nearby? If she couldn’t come back for whatever reason? That was why she took the time to heal her wound before.

 

“Don’t be stupid Momo. You have a plan. You have something concrete waiting for you. A place to sleep. Do not, follow the voice you don’t even know if it’s real or a creation of your imagination!” 

 

Yet, when the time had come to finally take this step. This very step. Right of left...She choose to go left and head toward the voice’s location. 

 

_ Stupid. You’re stupid Momo. You’re going to get yourself killed because you listen to a voice in your head ! _

 

Yet, what the voice had said, when she got freed from the tomb, rang inside her mind. His light. He needed her. She had felt alone and abandoned, she couldn’t inflict this to anyone. She couldn’t abandon him when she she had no way to know if she could fulfill this task. 

The monsters nest was so close, but she made a run for it, and luckily they didn’t spot her. Somehow, her lack of armor made her stealthy, she almost made no sound as she walked, and that probably what saved her from being spotted. 

 

But some part of her mind still recalled that somehow she would have to pass them again, if she wanted to go to the wooden cabin. And that now, she couldn’t turn back the same way she had feared. She gritted her teeth and prayed that her only ally, the voice, wasn’t just her hallucination and that something was truly waiting for her out there.

 

As she came closer to the piles of rock, her plate started to glow a bit, warming up. That made her both worried and intrigued.  _ Please don’t explode.  _ But at least a reaction from  the technology meant that it wasn’t just a pile of rock, wasn’t just a voice. 

 

Finally she reached the place. And found a structure oddly familiar to the place she had awoke. There was a pedestal too, and it glowed the same strange way her tablet was. She instinctely took off her belt the plate. Just as a sound behind her back alerted her that she had been spotted. 

 

She ran faster. A swift sound rang to her ear and she felt hurt. A second sound and se saw an arrow stricking the ground in front of her. They were  _ shooting her.  _ Somehow those monster were intelligent enough to use bow and arrow è And  _ they were shooting her !  _

 

She couldn’t outrun an arrow! 

 

_ This is it, you managed to take THE wrong decision that will got you killed!  _

 

Her confidence fell, hard, but she had no choice but to run. She zigzag in order to make sure they had less chance to strike. She tried to think about a shield but nthing came to her mind : she hadn’t seen a shield before and so couldn’t create one. Yet ! She was so close ! Only a few meters... _ and then what ? It won’t save you from arrow ! _

 

She raised her arm, tablet in her hand. 

 

Something hit her back and she tripped, crashing in the pedestal. She heard a click, the tablet fitting perfectly on it. 

 

_ “Sheikah tower activated” _ a mecanic voice said in her head. 

 

_ Tower ? What tower ?  _ Momo tried to get back on her knees, puzzled, shaken. But another arrow barely missed her head so she turned back, and faced the monsters : the most urgent problem. Two of them -godess, two ! she barely took one and now there were two ?!- They were aiming with their bow…

 

_ “Please watch for falling rocks”  _ said the voice. 

 

And Momo barely registered what it said, her beating heart covering every other sound.  _ Watch for what?  _

 

But then the ground started to shake. and everything went upside down. She had barely stood up and she fell again, yet she had the awful impression to go up instead of going down. And it wasn’t just an impression; when she opened her eyes the monsters got tinier and tinier. One of them was hit by a falling rock.

 

She almost choke, both from relief and fear. And immediately she curled herself near the pedestal, hoping not to get hit too. The landscape changed and looked nearly the same as what she had seen from the temple’s tower. 

 

_ Sheikah tower activated.  _ She remembered ; this structure was a tower. 

 

Part of herself was furious to have climbed the temple only for being lifted up automatically here. But it was too late and too chaotic to think about it too long. And this tower went way, way more up. She hoped that there was a way to get down planned. 

 

The shaking stopped, she barely stood up again, uneasy on her feet.

 

A strange stone above the pedestal shone blue, and a single tear fell from it, hitting the plate. Unsure of herself, Momo took it back, and saw that the black screen from before had turned into a real map, this time. 

 

_ Well, that will be useful,  _ she thought _.  _

 

-Thanks, she said, embracing the full view around, not knowing who she was truly thanking, but doing it nonetheless. 

 

Somehow the structure had saved her. As she turned, she saw the arrow, planted on her bag on her back. A baked apple pierced but her own body, safe. She was out of their reach now. And she had a map. And...

 

_ “...member.” _

 

She stopped, hearing a whisper. Hearing the voice, again. It felt like the wind. 

 

_ “Remember…” _

 

He pleaded. 

 

-I try! She answered. -I try but- She looked around, trying to spot where the voice come from, and this time ;  _ this time ;  _ she spotted something. A vague silhouette in the horizon, surrounded by light. It came from far away, from the shadow of an old castle, encasted in ice, or maybe it was rock? It looked black and muddy from here. It looked so far away. Yet it felt more real and close than ever before. 

 

_ You have been asleep for the past 100 years.. _

 

Momo’s heart fell hard on her chest, as someone finally answered her question. It wasn’t the answer she had wanted. It wasn’t... _ 100 years is so long ! It isn’t possible!  _

 

_ “All for one…” _ The voice resumed, sounding more weak and sad every passing word. 

 

The world started to shake again. An old shadow started to consume the ice around the castle. It looked deadly. It looked like venom. And it started to engluf the light where the voice was coming from. Momo couldn’t help but run to the very top of the tower. Until she couldn’t make even one more step without risking to fall to her death. But still ; she wasn’t close enough to help the voice, to stop the darkness to surround it. 

 

_ “When All for one regains its true power, the world will face its end…” _

 

There it was. She saw him. She saw the man from the voice.  He was as beautiful as a song. Just before it got engulfed with darkness, she saw red and white hair, she saw a blue royal outfit, she saw his eyes, sad, sad eye, as he gave her a tried, sorry smile. 

 

_ “Now...you must hurry Momo… I can’t stop him any longer...” _

 

And then it was gone. Something faceless, something faceless replaced it.  And then it looked at her, with  _ his eyes.  _ The song in her heart broke apart.

 

The world stopped shaking. The voice stopped whispering. But the castle in the horizon was still. And Momo’s heart didn’t stop beating. She couldn’t get the sad prince image out of her mind, neither him nor the song that came to her mind, so broken, as it disappeared into the darkness. 

_ All for one.  _ It sounded like the name of the goddess, written on the statue in the temple; but yet different.  _ 100 years.  _ They said she had slept for 100 years. 

_ Does that mean that everyone i knew, everyone who knew me before, are dead?  _

She gazed around and saw nothing but ruins again. Just like her plans. Just like her hopes. And she stared and stared again at the castle, summoning the voice, pleading him to talk, to explain, to say something, but there was nothing else. Nothing but silence. 

_ Please don’t be dead!  _

It may be selfish, but he was the only clue she had. He knew her name. He knew her. And... _ he needed her. He was suffering.  _

Momo clenched her fists. She needed to go and help him. She needed to do something : anything. But one look and she knew she couldn’t go right here and right now. The place she had been since the beginning looked like a great plateau : really high above the ground, the valley where the castle stood. There was no way she could climb it back ; it was too high.

_ And how do you fight a bunch of dark clouds ? _

She needed more info. She needed to start looking and she needed to start finding answers. Affirming her resolve, Momo started to get down of the tower ; luckily it was easy, the structure seemed made for climbing, and there were a bunch of platforms where she could rest between session when she felt tired. Her shoulder still hurt and she welcomed those pauses. 

When she reached the ground, finally, she remembered the monster that had chased her, and stood on her guard, ready to create the axe to fight back this time. She didn’t know how it worked, but seeing that someone was waiting for her to be saved gave her the courage she had lacked to fight. If they stood in her way, then…

Someone laughed. And as she looked up she saw the old man flying to her. She frowned : unable to understand what she was seeing. The man had a white cape this time, and it felt like fire rose from his head, providing the heat he needed to glide in the air. 

_ Just like an air balloon ! _

As she realized that, it was probably the best way to get out of the plateau herself, the man landed. The fire that she had spotted reduced drastically, becoming a simple, normal red beard on his face. The cape fell on his shoulders like normal clothes. But to Momo’s eyes, the man was anything but normal any longer. She was speechless. 

“What have you done ? The man grunted. -Towers started coming from the ground all around the places ! It’s almost as if something dormant suddenly awoke!”

Momo said nothing ; as she had certainly awoke after a long, long slumber.  _ 100 years, her  _ mind recalled, and her body shivered again at the thought. 

“What happened, what did you do at the top of this tower? Suddenly asked the old man, looking furious.” 

She gulped ; it was one thing to witness it,, and another to say it aloud. But she still did, because, well it was someone to talk, and it was someone who seemed to have abnormal ability too, so maybe, just maybe he could understand what was happening. 

“I heard a voice, she said.

-A voice?”

He sounded as sceptical as she was herself, and angry too. But she had come to the realization that the old man always looked angry. The scar on his face didn’t help to make him look any nicer. Which was unfair of her, to judge him on his look when she was there, dressed in rags. 

“And did you recognize this voice?” He suddenly ask, with what sounded like compassion. 

Momo’s heart stop, and the word fell on her throat. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say that she knew it was from a boy, a prince, and that somehow she wanted to save him, she wished him the world. But no. She didn’t place a name on his face. Heck, she could barely make up his face in her mind, alone for some tiny features lost in the light, all she managed to see what the sadness in his eyes, and the darkness devouring his skin. 

“No.” She confessed, feeling both sad and furious at herself. It was a crime. It was an outrage. She knew she should have remember him. She should have recognized him. But she didn’t. It was hidden somewhere deep inside her mind she just knew it, but she didn’t know how to find it. It was a different kind of powerlessness as she had felt fighting the monster, but as bitter.

“Oh.” Simply said the man, as if he was as sorry as her. 

Did he knew? Did he knew something? She was about to ask when the man turned around and pointed the castle, in the horizon line. 

“I assume you saw the darkness surrounding the castle. It is called, All for one.”

“Like the goddess in the temple ruins?” Asked Momo. 

The old man laughed, a sad, sad laugh. 

“It is its opposed force. One for all protected hyrule for many years, while All for one always came and destroyed it. One hundred years ago, the vile came and bought the kingdom to ruins. It destroyed everything in its path and many innocent lives were lost in its wakes.”

Momo stared, from afar, the place seemed dormant, not as deadly as the man said. But she knew, deep inside her bones that it was true. She couldn’t explain why. Maybe because she has seen the man from the voice being devoured by the darkness.  _ Is he safe? Or did he dies trying to tell me this?  _ She wished he was as okay as one can be. That he didn’t die for an information that the old man was giving him right now. She hoped he would be okay until she came and rescued him. 

But how would she do that? When the beast seemed so deadly, had caused so many calamities ? One look around told her everything she needed to know about its power : the ruins told hundred of ancient, tragic stories. How could she fight that when she barely managed to survive an encounter with one monster alone?

_ I need to get stronger.  _

Could she be stronger one day that this calamity? She doubted. But maybe she could become strong enough to outrun it, save the man, and flee. She needed to do that. He couldn’t wait any longer. He said she needed to hurry with such fragility. 

“For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, The hyrule castle, has managed to contain the evil, resumed the old man. Then with a smirk that seemed to say mock and regret the statement at the same time, he added : but just barely.” 

He turned to Momo. 

“As we speak, it’s building its strength, ready to lash upon the land once again.If i read the sign right, that moment approach fastly. And there are no goddess power holder anymore, nore hero or king, strong enough to fight it...” 

His eyes fell upon her, heavy with responsability: 

“Yet, i feel like you’re intend to go there anyways, despite any wisdom.” 

Momo couldn’t deny. She did intend to go. She had something to do. Someone to save. Answers to get. But the man wasn’t wrong : it was foolish. 

“I do. But that doesn’t mean i don’t have a plan.”

“And what is this foolish plan?” 

She said gulped. 

“It’s still in preparation.” 

And the old man sighed :

“Youngs ones are full of courage and optimism, thinking they can make their way as they think, not caring the slightest about how the old one had done. Full of themselves they can do better without learning from them.” 

Momo bite her lips ; yet couldn’t help but find an idea in his words. 

“I will study ! I will find what had happened in the past and learn from it, then!” 

She looked around at the ruins : surely, there was a clue hidden somewhere, something to find that could help her fight, gain strengh, discover the weak spot of the beast. The temple, for example, with the power of the godess that mirrored the evil one as he said : that was a good start!

Maybe it was her imagination, but the man looked both surprised and impressed by her words. But it was only a fraction of seconds, and he turned her back to her, as he explained again : 

“Maybe you’re in the right place then. This plateau is called The Great plateau. It was, in the past, the birth of Hyrule kingdom, the first place the town and the castle was built. The first time there was ever recorded the fight between good and evil. It was no more, already, one hundred years ago, and only a places for festivities. The royal family only came her during winter, as the place is forever stuck in this summer state by their power.

-Their power? Asked Momo.”

That would explain why the place had no day nor night. Could they have a power like her? A power over time, perhaps.

“It is said that the Hyrule family had been blessed by the goddess. The power to travel the time, seal the darkness away...Yet, 100 years ago, of that power there was almost nothing left, despite the effort of the royal family to gather it back to its former glory. They could not do such thing as trap a land in eternal summer anymore. What you see here, is merely the only trace left of their power at their peak.

-What could they do, then?” 

But the man remained silent on that subject, instead he pointed up something. A structure, glowing in orange, a little farther.

“This appeared at the same time of the tower. Maybe there is the clue you’re looking for. Maybe there is something that could help you learn what had happened here, in the past…”

Momo looked at the man ; he seemed to know so many things already. 

“Are you someone important. An archeologist or something? Are you too, looking for a way to go to the castle? She asked.

-I am not such person. Just an ermit who likes to tell old stories to young fools like you. 

-Why?”

The man paused, and looked far away, way farther than the castle than the calamity. Something only he could see. 

“Because i have made mistakes, and now i want to do things right.” 

Did he, in the past, send young people to their death, fighting this thing? It felt like so. Momo didn’t want to rub salt on an old wound; so she changed subject and asked instead: 

“If you managed to climb your way here, you must know the way out. Would you teach me how to get out of this plateau? To do...what you’ve done with your cape and your flames…?”

The man didn’t move, as if he hadn’t heard her. And for a moment, Momo hesitated to ask again. 

“My power is mine alone, you wouldn’t be able to do the same, he finally said.”

Momo’s heart dropped in her chest. Yet, hope rose her spirits too : so he had power! Just like her. Maybe nothing was wrong with her finally. Maybe…

“I have power to! Maybe you could teach me, how...to use it. Maybe you could…”

Silence. The ermit looked lost, deep in his thoughts, and angry. Maybe she had overstepped her rights. Maybe, having power was not as normal as he let it appear But he talked about it like it was natural, as if it was okay, so she dropped her guard. That had been careless of her. 

“Fine. I will teach you what you need. Follow me. My cabin is not that far away. I will teach you all you need to do in order to survive this place.”

Momo couldn’t help it she reached the old man, taking his hand in her, offering the best smile she could mutter/. because finally ; finally someone was there, someone was helping. 

“Thank you!” 

The old man grumbled, took back his hand and started to walk fast, to put as much distance between him and her as she could in so little time. Momo couldn’t hear it, but he whispered : 

“I don’t do this for you.” 

  
  


  
  



	5. The Great Plateau : Training in the wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo learns many things, how to fight, how to survive, how to befriend weirdo and how to use her head...But also the Hermit's name and the History of the royal family of Hyrule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I allowed myself to change some things in Zelda's lore (mostly about the triforce) because it's a little bit confusing and I need to fix it with bnha's lore.  
> This chapter's explanations are mostly for those who doesn't know Zelda's lore so they are not as lost as Momo. I hope you will like it. ^^

The hermit was a weird one, to say the least. She wouldn’t dare to say it to his face -as it would be rude and extremely ungrateful of her- but he definitely wasn’t a very good mentor. The first day, on their way to his “cabin” as he called it, they had to pass under a fallen stone bridge, right in front of a monster nest. And all he said to help her was giving her some arrows and instructed “If you’re not strong enough to fight them head on, be stealthy, look around you and find weak spots.”  

 

He didn’t care about the wound on her shoulder, nore her tiredness. He didn’t give her any explanation on how to use her power as he promised neither. Only sat there in a little corner, and stated that they wouldn’t go farther until she managed to clear the path.

 

First Momo had been scared, and a little bit angry : he was supposed to teach her after all ! She had no time to waste learning something on her own when he could teach her : someone was counting on her, someone was waiting for her, someone was in pain right now ! But that didn’t seem to bother him; to say the least. Momo managed to swallow her confusion and anger, and tried to think about it in a different way ; maybe what she had to learn was something you could do only on the field. And it wasn’t as if it was a bad thing ; she had stated she would fight this Great calamity, after all. She even promised she would learn from the past and do better -which was quite arrogant of her, now that she had the time to think about it. She couldn’t act assuming she would always have help. As if the old man would accompagny her all the time. At one point she would have to fight on her own, just like she did before. One look around at the ruins could tell her how hard the fight would be. She needed to get better now. She needed to learn how to defend herself.

 

So, she did as the old man said.

 

She spent hours watching the nest and the monsters living inside. They had a routine, they had an organization. Some were always on guard duty and other even cooked meal. It threw her off ; those tiny monsters lived. They probably had something like a society. Heck, maybe even a family of tiny monsters to take care off.

 

They had the right to live as much as her, she realized, and having the need pass around their territory wasn’t a good reason to simply kill them !

 

“I will try to talk to them !” she stated to the hermit, after this conclusion.

 

The man had looked at her as if she was the dumbest person to even lay in his presence.

 

“Fine. Go get yourself killed then” he simply answered; after going back taking care of their campfire.

 

But Momo was certain she could find some way, surely, if the monster had a semblance of society, there had to be a way to communicate with them and reason them !

 

In what felt hours later, Momo had learned lot of things out of this experience : 1) That monster didn’t talk, they growled and that it made quite difficult to communicate with them for that particular reason 2) that she ran much faster than she thought she could when a whole tribe of monsters was after her 3) that the hermit would indeed help her if she brought her troubles to his very feets. 4)That the old man was very powerful and able to burn a bunch of monster to crisps. 5)Now the path was cleared.

 

So at least this failure wasn’t a total failure, right?

 _Who am i kidding ? this is a complete disaster,_ she thought, as she bowed in front of the hermit, repentant and sorry.

 

“There’s a thin line between courage and temerity! Young people are always so sure of themselves” the old man said, with a resentful look that made her feel miserable.

 

He had tried to warn her about it, and she proved his point to him with this mistake. That was disappointing and infuriating ; how could have been so stupid when she had promised to listen to him and his experience, just a couple of time ago ?

 

Momo promised herself to never let herself be overwhelmed by her confidence ever again. From now on she would be obedient and would not discuss the-

 

The old man probably noticed Momo’s bad mood, because he stopped right in his track and, without looking at her, he grumpily added :

 

“It was worth the try. I’ve never heard about anyone trying to befriend Bokoblins before. So we couldn’t know if it would work or not. I did not say that you should do exactly what the previous generation did. One of my son once told me that it’s the easiest way to reproduce their mistake and fail as they did. You must learn from them, not simply imitate them.”

 

Momo stared back, surprised. Tiny sparks running under her skin, rubbing her all the wrong way. The words echoed in her mind. Suddenly she felt the lacking presence of something in her hand, and the absence of someone, in her back. It felt familiar and stranger all the same, as if the weight of something on her shoulder was missing.

 

“Thank you, she managed to say, every word adding to the weight in her chest -But i acted foolishly, there is no denying it. If i want to be able to save anyone, i need to be stronger. Strong enough to face my own mistakes at least.”

 

There was first a silence. Heavy and full of guiltiness. Then a soft, weak laugh.

 

“If you think that, then you’re wiser than i thought you were, said the hermit.”

 

He didn’t add anything else, as they had reached his “cabin” a simple wooden house with one room. The same one she had spotted on the top of the temple. After his confession about son, she had expected to find someone else, a wife, a family, other beings. But the place was empty.

 

And there was only one bed.

 

“Take it, the hermit said, when she turned to him to say the same thing. -You need to rest, you’ll need all your energy from now on.”

 

And he walked away, closing the door behind and leaving her all alone. But with a roof above her head, and more security than she ever had since she had awakened.

 

Tiredness overcame her, as if, her body knew that, finally, it could relax and afford to be weak now. And Momo didn’t find the courage to fight it back ; she felt tired, she felt weak.

 

As she lied on the bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to recap everything that was her life -everything that she knew- Momo couldn’t help but lost herself in her thoughts. The sheets were cold, and had no scent at all, as if never ever had slept there before. The whole home was liveless, despite being in better shape than every other building she went across. It looked fine yet it felt like ruins too.

 

Where was the hermit’s family? The son he told her about with so much sorrow in his eyes and regret in his voice? What had happened here? Were they all dead?

 

Did Momo had a family somewhere too? Did she forgot all the people she once cherished, or did she had no one at all to begin with?

 

She didn’t know what option she would rather live with. And as sadness threathened to overcome her, like in the temple, she breathed in and out, and tried to rationalize. She had someone : the man who called her out of her slumber, the one who called her “his light”. Whoever he was, he knew her.

 

At least the past her.

 

She hoped he was all right. She hoped he could wait until she was strong enough to come and help him.

 

She tried to remember his face, the way his voice resounded in her head, in her heart. Was there anything that she could do to help him **now**? Trying to become stronger was a good way to keep her mind busy, to give her the illusion of actual control over the events in her life, but was it meaningful? Would it be enough? Wouldn’t it take too long?

 

Did the voice made a mistake trusting her?

 

Afraid and unsure of herself, she whispered to the void : “Are your really sure about this?”

 

But no one answered her question, and she fell asleep without hearing the voice again. Yet somehow, when she woke up, she felt like she had dreamed of someone, smiling, and saying :

 

“Yes i’m sure.”

  


***

 

The first day, the hermit had taken out of her bed and taught her only basic stuff. How to cook in the wild. How to hunt her food with just a bow and an arrow, how to be stealthy and walk under the wind to make sure that the animal would not spot her until it was too late.

 

“Do you see this big rock?” He suddenly said, as they were hunting a boar.

 

Momo nodded, unsure of what there was to say about it. The hermit made a sign, instructing her to stay still, as he walked toward the rock and climbed it.

 

As soon as he reached the top, the ground started shaking, and the rock rose. It was enormous ; twice bigger as it was, when it rested inside the earth, and vaguely human. But most important of it, it was angry. Angry at the hermit for daring to climb and wake him up. It turned, and rolled, his giant arms hit a tree and smashed it into pieces.

 

Momo yelped, avoiding to be hit by cheer luck only. She felt numb and scared. Yet, as she saw the monster roll on his back, her heart sank. The hermit ! She stood up and was about to run to his rescue when she heard :

 

“Don’t move, stay hidden!”

 

The hermit hadn’t been hurt at all, didn’t even flinch from his spot, managing to not get thrown away thank to what looked like a precious ore, an asperity on the body of the monster.

 

“This is their weak spot, he screamed to Momo. -You just smash it and-”

 

Flames went ablaze, and the rock screeched, as it weak spot was set ablaze. The hermit jumped to the ground, and he looked at the creature as it died. It didn’t took long before the rock fell hard.

 

“What was that? Whispered Momo, as she came closer, once the danger was gone.

-A Pebblit. Simple one. It is born from one of All for One’s sbire, Gigantomancia. It is not very dangerous, but you must learn to recognize them and how to fight them.”

 

The hermit put an hand to the ground, near the remains of the creature.

 

“The ground is hotter or colder when a creature hid underneath. When you see a rock this size, always check the ground.”

 

He took one pebbles lying around and throw it to Momo. She managed to catch it in time, even if she was surprised by the movement. It was almost pretty. The fire still lit up the rocks, and revealed shiny sparks all over the monster’s corpse. Precious ores, amber she recognized it, had rolled from its body, when it hit the ground, and casted beautiful orange glow on the grass. It was that, that the Hermit had given her.

 

“Those monsters are always made up of ores, if you manage to defeat them, you can make some money out of them. Towns will offer you lot of for this. Or you can make equipment from it if you find a blacksmith.

-So there are cities around?” Immediately guessed Momo, not hiding her smile.

 

Unfortunately the hermit shook his head :

 

“Not in this area anymore. You will have to get out of the Great Plateau for that. Then maybe.”

 

Maybe? What would that mean, she feared. Did the man didn’t know if there was still towns around? She was about to ask, when the hermit pointed something, in the horizon.

 

“You see the the mountains? Not the volcano, but the twin peaks. Last time i was there, there was still a stable, and a town nearby. Once you manage to get out there, try to get there.”

 

Momo nodded, even though she felt a little bit disappointed ; she had imagined that, as soon as she could leave this place, she would go to the castle and try to save the owner of the voice. As he had asked her to hurry. But she supposed that the hermit was right : if there was no town here, she would no be able to find supplies and equipment... Going to fight this big monster without theses, and a plan, would be foolish.

 

Yet…

 

“How long have you been there?” She asked the man, as she was worried about his knowledge being outdated. She was okay with waiting a bit before helping the voice in her head, but she was not okay with uneeded trip.

 

He needed her. She needed him too. He was the only one who knew who she had been. And he was in pain. Knowing this pained her heart so much it was hard to ignore and stay still, as the shadow of the castle still darkened the horizon.

 

The hermit, though, ignored her question, a sad smile on his face as he said:

 

“Time does not exist here. There is no day nor night. Not even death or life.”

He stared at the creature he had just vanquished and gave it a little hit with his feet.

 

“This monster will rise again, as if nothing had happened. Same with Bokoblins i killed. And if you stay too long here, you will also…”

 

She frowned. What? Not dying? It didn’t sound like a bad thing. But the sadness in the hermit’s eyes seemed to say the contrary.

 

“Did you stay here too long?” She whispered, fearing to understand.

 

The hermit smiled again, shrugged, and silently ordered her to follow. He didn’t speak of that matter again. Instead, he taught her how to make fire, and how to boil the ingredient in order to make a real meal -and not some unamed abomination- and how to cook a potion to heal.

 

It had been hard, but Momo managed to make her own medecine to apply to her wounds, and she felt better in only a couple of hours after that. Determined to thank the old man ;  and as he never took even one bit of anything in the whole day, she looked through the stuff in the house and found a recipe. But when she cooked it, and handed it over the hermit he refused :

 

“Eat it, you need it more than me, you are so thin it’s unbearable to watch.”

 

He didn’t eat all day. He didn’t sleep either. And when she offered him the medecine she had made, so he could heal his own wound, he laughed :

 

“I’m not that weak, monsters here can’t defeat me anymore.”

 

That night again, he didn’t say a single thing about the past, and her power. She tried to make him talk, as he ordered her to go back to sleep now, and take some rest, she stayed and waited for explanations. But the man remained silent, and she fell asleep near the fire camp before he started opening up.

 

She woke up in the bed in the wooden cabin, with no more information than before. The hermit was absent, and appeared out of nowhere as she was cooking her breakfast. He waited for her to finish then asked her to follow him, leading her to a forest field, where he pointed another nest of monsters. This time she only saw five Bokoblin, dancing around a campfire full of food.

 

“This time, you take them out.” He instructed.

 

Momo spent what felt like hours trying. She walked around them, trying to determine the monsters’ habits, their schedule and eventually to find their weak spot. But she felt naked, and unsure of herself. After all she was still wearing the old outfit she had when she awoke, and had nothing but a bow to fight with. She was still all alone against five ! Even if she managed to take down two by surprise, surely the others would notice her presence and attack her. What would she do then ?  She had a plan ; but...

 

“I can’t” she said to the hermit. “Not with so few weapon.”

 

She needed at least a sword, her right hand was itching, as if something was missing. But the hermit gave her a scornful look and growled :

 

“Of course you can ! This is only Bokoblins! You think you can defeat the calamity if you can’t even fight its weakest pawns?

-I wouldn’t go and fight this calamity almost naked ! She answered.

-Because you think finding the good weapon will change anything? If you don’t know how to swing it, a sword is nothing more than a kitchen knife! It is not a matter of finding THE good weapon but you learning how to use it!

-Then teach me!

-I’m teaching you!”

 

Momo knew she was going too far ; the man had been kind enough to let her take his bed, to teach her how to cook and how to survive by herself, and he didn’t just share his food, she hadn’t seen him eat since she was with him ; he probably gave her his share. She was being ungrateful and impatient, she knew that yet...yet !

 

She breathed in, and out, letting go of the anger that would just waste their time. She had so little she couldn’t afford to lose even once more second. Not when he was waiting for help and she didn’t know how long he had left. The hermit had promised her to help : to teach her what she didn’t know ; to tell her about the past, about this world ; what she needed to rescue the owner of the voice! And what had he been given so far? Vague information about town that may not still exist, about rock monsters, and recipes! How would that help fight this big steamy black cloud that surrounded the castle in the horizon? Why couldn’t the hermit just keep his promise instead of being cryptid or pushing her in a monster nest hoping she would make out there alive? That was not what they had agreed on!

 

But she knew him well enough now to know that being childish was not going to work ; she had to play by his rules...And still make sure to have what she was waiting for. So she stated, more calmly than she actually felt;

 

“If i find the way to beat those bokoblins, she said, you tell me everything. Even your name!

-You don’t need to know it

-Who are you to know what i need to know and what i don’t!”

 

The man rose his hand, as if he was going to hit her and Momo immediately reacted, protecting her head. That took them both by surprise. Momo stood, her heart beating fast ; surprised by her reflex of protection in front of a man that was her ally.

 

 _Was i hit like that before ? Or is it because i probably followed martial training in the past?_ She wondered.

 

The hermit, on the contrary, just stopped right in the middle of his movement, and for a moment, it looked like he was struggling whether or not he should actually do it or not.

 

“Do not come back until you’ve wiped the monster net out of the map ! Aren’t you smart ? If you’re not strong enough ; use your head then !” He finally screamed.

 

But Momo wasn’t going to let him get away with this :

 

“Promise me you will tell me everything!”

 

The hermit shook his hand in the wing, grumbling something like a “whatever i promise.” followed quite fastly by a “young people have no patience.” as he walked away.

 

For a moment, Momo didn’t know how to feel ; disappointed in herself, in her mentor, afraid, angry or everything at the same time. But as time went by, and staying idle brought her nothing but anxiety, and every little question she didn’t want to deal with yet, she finally convinced herself to move. She still didn’t know how she would do it, but the promise of having answers, finally, were enough motivation.

 

“You can do it”, she whispered to herself. “-You have to!”

 

She wished she could actually believe it, that her voice sounded more like the one in her head. So instead, she tried to remember his tone, the nice feel that came with the sound, and tried to reproduce it.

 

So she went back to the field and stared at the nest. She had a plan. Yes. But it she was not sure it would succeed. It seemed weak and full of holes. But had she any choice left? No. Still that was not a reason to be reckless. She couldn’t afford it.

 

_He is waiting for me, he is counting on me!_

 

Was it selfish of her, to think that she was the only one he had left, just as he was the only had she had? Probably. Maybe his face was a blur in her memory, but he was real. He was something more than a voice in her head, and he relied on her. He supported her. That give her the strength she lacked. That gave her an objective ; something to hang on in this sea of nothingness that was her memory.

 

_I know you can do it._

 

For a second, she heard it. As if the wind had carried his words to her. She looked around, uncertain, but saw nothing. Yet Momo didn’t feel the same helplessness as before. On the contrary, she was relieved to hear him.

 

“I won’t disappoint you”, she promised to the wild, hoping that the wind would carry her word to him, the same way it did with his.

 

The wind, though, did something else, as she watched it goes. It brought her attention to one tiny, tiny point. A gush of leaves dancing unnaturally on the top of the wooden cabin of the hermit. And her mind went racing.

 

Tooru ! The wild Kokiri !

 

Immediately she added this fact to her sketch of a plan. That was it !

 

-Tooru ! She called, as she climbed on the top of it, thanking the god “One for all” that the hermit wasn’t here to judge her actions.

 

But to her surprise, when she reached the leaves, it wasn’t her invisible friend who manifested herself. Suddenly, the leaves stopped dancing and disappeared without a trace. And she felt an hand on her ass.

 

“Nice body you have my lady!” Said a gremlin voice in her back.

 

Her first reflex was to turn and hit. And her kick met the face of a tiny little boy with grape shaped hair. That’s all she saw of him as he went off flying. Momo was ashamed. She ran to the -thing. A little boy. Oh One for All, she had kicked a kid in the teeth. (Well the kid had gropped her butt, so, he kind of deserved it, but maybe it was a mistake on his part? And even if it wasn’t she had planned to ask him for help and that was a very bad way to start).

 

“I’m sorry ! I’m sorry you surprised me ! Are you one of Tooru’s friend?

-Eh?  Yes i am! But how do you know her? How come you can see me?! That’s so unfair! The boy cried, as he held his reddening cheek. -How am i supposed to grope you if you can actually see me?!”

 

So it wasn’t an accident. Momo took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Okay.

 

“This is very rude to grope people, you shouldn’t take advantage of your invisibility like that.

-Invisibility my ass! You can see me! That’s so unfair, all there is there is this gross ass man, you’re the first lady i see since i started playing hide and seek, and you can see me, what a bad luck.”

 

Okay. Breathing in and out. A pervert. Okay. Momo would have preferred Tooru, even if the girl was naked, she was at least totally invisible ; to Momo. Why this one was different was a mystery, but she had no time to worry about that. She needed to defeat those monsters and get answers. And for that she needed to -Gods were cruel- made an ally out of this pervert.

 

“My name is Momo. -Maybe- What’s yours?

-Mineta Minoru, how come you can see me? Only kids can see Korogu!

-I suppose i still have the heart of kid then.

-You definitely not have the body of a kid.”

 

Momo put a hand on her mouth, hiding her grimace -this kid was annoying. But she had to find something to make him reconsider the option. For a second, she wondered if she could actually see him because she had just awakened. After all, her present self was only a few days old, maybe that was why.

 

“I need your help. Would you mind?

-If you let me touch your boobs, i might consider it.”

 

Little...that was out of question. But what could she trade? Momo grumbled. And the kid smirked, sure of himself : even holding up his hand as if he was waiting for her to handled whatever he was asking. She really, really didn’t want to have this as an ally. But she really needed help.

 

...Or did she?

An idea popped in her mind and she immediately analyzed it.

Yes. That could work.

 

“I can’t let you do that. But you know, i saw a woman prettier than me, over there. And i know for sure that she can’t see Korogu like me.

-Really? Does she have big boobs?

-Oh yes, she’s so big, it’s amazing!”

 

The little gremlin jumped on his feets, not hiding his delight.

 

“Where is she? Lead me to her!”

 

Momo smiled ; and pointed the forest she was with the hermit when they had hunted.

 

“Over there. There’s a big rock, if you climb on the top and touch the amber stone, you might see her, she likes that spot.”

 

She didn’t have to say it twice, the boy ran away, already drooling. Momo almost felt bad. A little. Not long though, cause that meant she had to hurry. She rushed to the Bokoblin’s nest and took out her bow.

 

There were two towers standing, with a sentinelle on each one, keeping guard on the camp. Just like before the monsters seemed to have some kind of organized routine. She had to take them out first. Then their deaths would bring the attention of the remaining monsters and... The hermit had given her arrow : but only a few. So she couldn’t afford to miss her target. She climbed on a tree, and aimed for their heads.

 

She had trained a bit with the weapon as they hunted, and the wild board had been way harder to hit than those two bokoblins. They fell instantly, killed in one hit. But as she had predicted, their “friends” didn’t react well. She could only kill another one, before another spotted her and rushed to the fire camp to take his weapon. Which was ablazed.

 

Crap.

 

Momo jumped out her tree and started to run as fast as she could, to the forest. Two Bokoblins on her trail. She ran, zigzaging as much as possible, trying to confuse them, but it only made them angrier, and they even started a fire as they tried to hit her with their weapon.

 

She was starting to think that her plan had failed, when she heard a scream:

 

“YOU LIEEEED TO ME!”

 

A Mineta Minoru entered the scene, screaming and crying, chased by a giant Pebblit. The hermit had been right : ih had rose from the dead and was as angry as it had been when she last saw it.

 

This big entrance surprised the Bokoblins, who seemed to shrinkle as soon as they saw the giant rock monster rushing to them. Fire was nothing for it, as it stepped on the flame as it would have done on grass. It couldn’t see Mineta, of course, but it could feel it. It had felt something climbing its back and it had rose from the ground, ready to smash whatever fool dared to do that. It didn’t see Mineta, but it sure saw the Bokoblins.

 

Momo, who expected its arrival -as she was coming near the place- immediately went into hiding -the same spot she had hid when the hermit fought the pebblit before.

 

One thing was sure, when the Pebblit hit something, it hit at full force. The first bokoblin was sent flying, and didn’t come back. She couldn’t see what happened of the second one though, as a little gremblin appeared right before her, looking disheveled and very angry.

 

-You LIED to me! He repeated.

 

She felt a little bit remorseful. But she tried to defend her honor anyways ;

 

-Well, technically, i didn’t : maybe it’s a girl. Who know? And I said she was big.

-I THOUGHT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT HER BOO-

 

She put an hand on his mouth, because noise would bring the attention of the rock monster. But whatever had happened, it was now over : there was no sign of the bokoblin anymore -probably smashed - the fire had died down and the Pebblit was slowly returning to his spot. Tired of its effort already.

 

Momo allowed herself to breath -and speak- only when she was sure the danger was over. Once the monster was out of her sight, and a couple of heartbeats later.

 

“I did it.”

 

She sighed in relief. Then joy hit her at full force.

 

“I DID IT!”

 

She stood up, proud and so happy, as if her blood was on fire.

 

“I did it! Did you see that-?”

  
But when she turned her head, what she found beside her was the perverted Korogu Mineta. And her heart sank. _It’s not him._ The thought came, as clear as the day. And for a moment, absence took a shape in her mind.

 

“Wow you could at least not look so disappointed facing me, complained Mineta. -After all, i kind of helped you there! t’s thanks to me you did...Whatever you did!”

 

The boy might be a pervert; but he was not stupid.

 

“I deserve a reward, he stated.

-You would deserve one, if you had acted knowingly. But you didn’t. So no.

-What! That’s unfair!

-No it isn’t. Quite on the contrary : it would be unfair to reward you when you didn’t try to do anything nice. You don’t reward pervert, you reward heroes.”

 

Mineta frowned, and he was about to yell something when…

 

“I see you defeated all the bokoblins.”

 

Momo almost had an heart attack, As the hermit appeared out of nowhere, behind her back. Mineta probably had been as scared as her, because he left without a trace, as fast as the wind. She sure hope to never see him again -and that he would not find an innocent woman to grope while being invisible.

 

“Y-Yes. I defeated them, she answered the hermit. With a little help.

-I saw that.”

 

Momo stared, surprised : could he actually…

 

“It was clever of you to use the Pebblit.”

 

Ah. Of course. So he couldn’t see the Korogu. Was she the only one who could see through their disguises? She wondered. But that was a question for another day, she had more pressing matters, and the man had a promise to fulfill.

 

“You-

-My name is Enji Todoroki.”

 

True to his word, he gave her his name, and even took off his white hood to reveal his face. It wasn’t the first time Momo had seen him. She had glimpses of the scar in his cheek, had noticed the redness of his hair. Yet it felt different this time. Maybe because he willingly opened up to her.

 

Todoroki.

 

His eyes, as clear as the sky reminded her of the wildness before her, when she first stepped out of the cave.

 

Enji Todoroki.

 

Why was the name felt familiar, yet didn’t ring a bell in her head? It was as if she had a word on the tips of her tongue.

 

“Follow me, i will tell you everything about this land, said Enji, as he turned back.

-Everything?”

 

The man sighed.

 

“Well, as much as you can take for now at least.”

 

She was about to brag and swear : “i can take out everything you will throw at me!” showing the place emptied of Bokoblin as a proof of her words, but restrained herself. Because she had barely managed to accomplish her task. Yet, the man seemed to hear her still and chuckled:

 

“I know now, that you are stronger than you look. But what good would it do for you, to get to know all complicated words yet no clue about what it represents?”

 

Momo frowned ; as the man was right. She hated when books did that, drowning the reader under all their vocabulary, not leaving them the time to fully understand it.

 

 _Oh. Books!_ She stopped. _I like books._

 

This came to her mind with such certitude than she didn’t even try to deny it. She liked books. She couldn’t remember one title in particular right now, but at least she knew that. She had liked book. She had read a lot of books.

 

Her memories might still be blurry, but there were still remains of it, within her. And that felt like a bigger victory than her war with the Bokoblin.

 

Because if she could remember about books, maybe, one day, she would remember the name of the person she missed besides her. Maybe one day, she would be able to name the missing piece of her heart.

  


***

 

“I don’t know where to begin.” First said Enji.

 

They had reached the cabin in silence, Momo lost in thoughts and still high from the battle in her mind. The fire camp was lit, and now the hermit was staring at the flames as if it would swallow him all. He looked odd and broken, crackling with the logs.

 

“Maybe...At the beginning?” Tried Momo.

 

But what was the beginning, when one knew nothing at all, not even her own name? She wondered. Enji smiled, as if he had caught a glimpse of her dilemma.

 

“The beginning...Well, the beginning of this world, its rules then.”

 

Once again Momo heard a song. A song sang by the wind as it blew between the forest, played with the embers of the fire, and brought the scent of the darkest cloud in the horizon. It first sounded like piano ; simple note dropping in like water, slowly eroding the land. Then like a chorus of crying women, the last glimmer of the past ; the ghost of what had been there and had been lost.

 

“The History of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of calamity All for One, a primal evil that has endured over the ages. It is a curse that had been following us since the beginning of time itself.”

 

Enji’s smile turned grim.

 

“At first, the land was blessed by Gods and Goddesses. After creating this world, the Godesses had left it in the hands of one of their kind, One for All. It was said that this god embodied all the three quality they valued the most : wisdom, courage and power, they called it the triforce. He had the tendency to grant any wish to whoever managed to prove their worth to him. But one day, one mysterious power appeared, it called itself All for One. What it wanted was unclear, but he had decided that One for all was it arch nemesis and tried to kill it. It broke the power of the god in three, and stole the power shard from him. The god barely made it out alive, only saving two of its part.”

 

Momo couldn’t believe her ears :

 

“Is it possible to kill a god? To break it into several pieces?” She asked. She hadn’t think she could be religious, but the very thought of being truly alone made her nauseous, so she supposed, that, to some extent, she believed. And it wasn’t like anything she heard was harder to believe than what she had discovered since she woke up from her slumber.

 

“Apparently. But you can’t truly kill it, but you can make it so weak that it can’t stay in its original form anymore. That’s what happened to One for All. As it realized he couldn’t defeat his nemesis anymore as it wielded one part of himself, he decided to go and hide away, to assure a future to the world. For a long time, it hid under the identity of a normal Hylian, in a city, far above us, floating in the sky.

-Hylian? A city in the sky?

-Hylian is what we call people like you and me. Who do not have animal attribute.

-There’s people with animal features?

-Less and less nowadays, but yes, at its peak, Hyrule had many. Zora, who looked like fises, Rito, who were like birds, Goron who…”

 

Enji frowned, confused.

 

“Actually i don’t know what animal Goron takes after, but they certainly didn’t look like Hylian back in the days.”

 

Momo counted : so there were at least four civilizations here. Plus Korogu and monsters. None of the new one sounded familiar to her, even the Hylian bit.

 

“Anyways, the god hid, and took the identity of the first member of the royal family of Hyrule. A princess named Zelda.

-Isn’t One for All a man?

-He is whatever they decide to be, it can changes.

-That’s convenient.

-Will you let me finish my story? Grumbled Enji. -You sure remind me of a Rito ; not standing the silence.”

 

Momo put a hand on her mouth, ashamed. She wanted answers, but if she didn’t let him go at his own pace, she risked to irritated the narrator and get only half of the story. After a moment, probably to make sure that this time, its audience would shut up, he resumed:

 

“Zelda remembered her duty as a god when she hit sixteen years old, and as All for One came closer to finding her once again, she decided to fight back this time. She made a sword, that would choose a champion for her, to protect her while she gathered enough power to seal the evil. The champion chosen by the sword would wield the Triforce of courage, while she would wear the triforce of wisdom.

 

This time Momo couldn’t help but ask:

 

“Why dividing herself again?”

 

But Enji didn’t look annoyed by her question this time; only surprised, as if it was the first time he ever questioned the God’s decision. But Momo was far too gone, already thinking about a reason behind this :

 

“Was it to make sure that one of them would survive the fight? As long as one piece remained alive, and away from All for One’s influence, she could probably heal and come back once again. Just like she did in the first fight.”

 

Enji blinked, and scoffed. He sounded sad as he whispered:

 

“As long as one of them live, the other will survive.”

 

But he didn’t seem to be talking about the Triforce anymore. Or why would it made him so miserable? When it was, on the contrary, an hopeful statement. The god would always be back to save them, as long as one piece of the Triforce remained.

 

“This didn’t matter in the end. Link and Zelda fought All for One, united. They even managed to get back one of the missing piece of the Triforce thanks to the Sheikah people.

-Sheikah people?

-Those would become the protector of the Royal Family -said Enji, bitterly- it lives longer than us, and are stronger and wiser, as they always stayed close to the Triforce whomever wielded it.”

 

He said it bitterly, and to be frank, Momo had an hard time understanding this. Were they traitors? Did they workshipped the Triforce? But the Triforce was One for All, in its true form, right? Or did it become something else, when All for One broke the God in three pieces?

 

“Unfortunately, as it was sealed away, All for One cursed Link and Zelda, a hand still on the Triforce. It swore that it would take revenge on them, no matter how long it would take, and how many form they would hide under or new name they called themselves, it would always find them, and fight them. This is how the reincarnation curse began.”

 

Enji opened his hand and a flame lit itself up.

 

“The Royal Family of Hyrule was born from the first Zelda. And the power of the god’s wisdom, the one to seal away the darkness, to see the sign of the calamity’s resurrection, and to manipulate time to assure their victory, was transmitted from generation to generation, carried by blood. Their tragic destiny transmitted from father to son, mother to daughter ; never forgotten.”

 

Enji opened up his other hand, and another fire rose.

 

“Link’s reincarnation worked differently. It was not transmitted by blood. The sword he yielded during the battle contained One for All’s courage, and will. It is said that the sword itself was alive and able to think at one point in the past, and that it gathered and stocked the soul of every single one of its wielder, making it unable to reincarnate like Zelda. The sword chose the next Hero. Someone unaware yet of their greatness nor the curse that followed them.”

 

Momo’s felt her heart squeeze, and a tingling sensation overcoming her hand, making her uneasy. It felt wrong and out of places, but as Enji spoke of sword she tried to imagine it. A long sword with blue guard with wings forged and one tiny jewelry in it center. A sword that embodied the struggles on many before her, and weighed more than her life. The only solid proof that those heroes once existed, but had forgotten who they were, what hopes and dreams they had, who they cherished, beside their titles.

 

“And for the calamity?”

 

Enji’s fist clenched, the fire dying in one moment, not leaving anything behind, not even tiny sparks of embers.

 

“The calamity was still one and the same. Sometimes it changed form, but its spirit was immortal, its memory never faltered. It came back no matter how far they sealed him away, no matter how long it took, just as promised.”

 

With a laugh, he said, as if it was a joke only he could get;

 

“Once he tried to do the same as it enemy ; to take the form of an Hylian too, but too pridefull, he couldn’t stand to be only one of many, and decided instead to be born again as the king of the Gerudo tribe.

-The Gerudo tribe? Asked Momo.”

 

Enji was startled by her question, as if he had forgotten her presence. She saw him touch his red hair, then put back his wood, as if she shouldn’t have seen it.

 

“The Gerudo tribe is a female warriors tribe. They can only have daughters, usually, but once every century they gave birth to one son, which it is said to have an extraordinary destiny. The boy becomes their king for as long as he lives, no matter his bloodline.

-The calamity sure was proud.

-He was. And his plan almost worked, as he fooled everyone but the Zelda of his generation. She defeated him with the help of the hero, once again, but he almost succeeded. It is said that he was never the same after this defeat, as if this form had altered him for good. But he couldn’t use this strategy again, as Hyrule remembered.”

 

Enji sighed and closed his eyes. For a moment it seemed like he needed time, so Momo said nothing, and waited. Waited for him to be ready and resume his story. But, after a while, she understood that the man had no intention of going further. So she reminded him :

 

“You promised me to tell the the whole story. This is barely enough. Why do you and i have power? What about this place? What happened here?”

 

She embraced  the view of the ruins, the horizon filled with nothing but darkness, the lonely castle that she knew, held captive the only person that her heart seemed to remember.

 

“What happened here...” Answered Enji, dreadfully. And Momo felt her blood turn cold as he the man simply said :

“The calamity returned and this time it won.”

 


	6. The Great Plateau : 10 000 years old ruins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was motivated (and had an off day this week) so I managed to write a lot. I'm super happy. I hope you'll like it!  
> I changed a couple of things in the Zelda lore again : 
> 
> -The layout of the ruins near the cabin in the great plateau, I gave it a purpose and a better shape, for natrrative purpose. I hope it's okay with you, fellow Zelda fans. 
> 
> I hope you'll have a good read, thanks to Mei and _mageofspace_ in the todomomo discord I managed to get unstuck with the shrine's role in the story, so thank you a lot to them ^^

“What do you mean, it won?”

 

Enji didn’t answer, gazing at the campfire with the eyes of an old man. Here in the cabin it was easy to forget the ruins all around them. And somehow Momo had knew, deep down, that something awful had happened. She knew that so much destruction only meant death and suffering. But her whole body reacted against it ; she stood, her blood turning cold and her fists clenched, her beating fast in her chest.

 

The calamity couldn’t have won! He had said that it was contained when they met! That he had been sealed, just barely, but still sealed!

 

“Where were the heroes, Zelda and Link? You said that they would always rise against the calamity, where were they when it happened? When…

-Go to sleep. I will tell you the rest after you rest. You’re not ready to hear it now.”

 

Momo was at lost, too surprised by Enji’s word. How could she go to sleep when there was still so much to learn? He had promised to tell her the whole story! He couldn’t expect her to just go and sleep when he just announced that the calamity had won!

 

She was about to protest, but when she looked at the place where Enji had once stood, she found no one anymore. Just a crackling fire camp. The man had just left, without a word or a sound.

 

Loneliness hit Momo harder than ever.

 

She thought that it was trapped in the castle ; the voice _had said_  that the calamity was only building its strength, that there was still time! Not that it was already a lost battle!

 

And the owner of the voice…

 

She couldn’t forget the weakness in his tone, as he had asked for her help, as he called her “his light”.

 

Was it already too late?

 

She turned to the horizon, her eyes focused on the stormy darkness surrounding the castle. Was it late the moment the beast took this form, the very moment she saw him the first time and learned about it? Was the voice only giving her one final warning before…

 

Momo shook her head ; refusing to believe that. No! She had heard him after this. It was faint, sure but she was sure of that. She had felt his presence. He was okay. He had to be.

 

The Calamity didn’t win yet. Momo forced herself to calm down and think. Even if the calamity had won, they were alive. They could still fight back. The world had not met its end yet.

 

Even if it was really hard to believe that, surrounded by ruins of the previous kingdom and no other person around except the hermit. His words still rang to her ears, tragic melody that broke her heart : he didn’t know too. He didn’t know if there was still a town where it used to be. If anyone here is still alive.

 

She shook her head.

 

No that was stupid. Enji was old, but not _that old,_ if she had fallen asleep when the Calamity striked, then it had been 100 years. The hermit looked like around 60, maybe less. He had to had parents. He talked about his family, sons. So he had a wife in the past too. There were still people that survived.

 

There had to be survivors.

 

_I need to make sure...I need to get out fast and see with my own eyes what is left of the world. If there are still people._

 

She needed to hurry.

 

But unfortunately, she realized, staring at the empty place near the fire camp, where once sat Enji, she was dependant of the hermit. She was barely strong enough to fight and had still too many things to learn. All she could do was hope that the old man would come back and tell her the truth, sooner rather than later.

 

***

Except that Enji didn’t come back. Momo had waited, angry. Then seeing still no one, she started to tidy up the cabin. Staying still was awful, her mind always went back to the owner of the voice. _What if he is not okay ?_ She ordered the food supply, made a list of what she would need, and found a couple of recipes and even a fluffy top that would be ideal if the temperature went down. _What if he is already dead?_  When she finished and he was still not back yet, she started making arrows from dried wood, while making her dinner. _What if i’m too late?_ She made a share for the hermit too. But since he didn’t come back even after this, she ate it. (Even if it was childish of her to act as such). And discovered that, if she kept being such a glutton, not only she would stop being “so thin” as said the Hermit, but also would need to hunt a lot more than she thought.

 

_What if this very few seconds i’m wasting here change everything?_

 

As much as Momo hated wasting time and said she didn’t want to sleep without answers, she had to, at some point.

 

_What if i never see him again?_

 

Enji wasn’t back when she woke up. So this time she didn’t even bother making him a breakfast. Understanding that staying here, waiting for him to return, would only make her angrier, she decided to not stay iddle. A walk would help her find her composure back. She couldn’t outrun her bad thoughts, but she would sure try.

 

Now that she had managed to defeat Bokoblin she wasn’t as scared of this place as before, and with her bow and new arrows, she certainly could afford to explore a bit, and so she did.

 

First off, she went back to the huge tower ; as it would be the perfect place to get a full view of the place and plan an itinerary. Of course, that also meant passing through the nest of Bokoblins she first failed to beat. If she could afford it, she would rather go without killing them (again). She just couldn’t shake off the feeling that somehow, those creatures were intelligent. But unfortunately, like the pebblit, they had risen again from the deads, and were keeping watch. Impossible to go past them without taking a huge detour. She had no choice but to fight. Momo was a bit afraid about it, of course. But as she came closer to the place, she noticed something. Inside the shapped-skull-rock the monsters had nested she saw two lanterns, just around the eyes hole. Back when she had just met Enji, she had taken those light as proof of the society’s intelligence and society. But now, she only saw the opportunity.

 

After a bit of hesitation she climbed the fallen bridge, and faced the nest, taking out her bow and arrow. It took only two try to hit the rope and make the lantern fall.

 

_I’m getting better at this!_

 

As she had planned, the lantern put the whole place in flames, alerting the sentinelle. Momo took this opportunity to pass without being noticed and let them deal with the fire she had created.

 

Maybe Enji would disapprove her action -especially that she left them mostly alive- but heck he wasn’t there so he had no say about it.

 

Only a couple of step farther, she saw an odd building. A shrine, all build in black stones, surrounded by a familiar orange glow. The architecture looked so much like the place she had awaken, that it sent a chill to her spine.

Enji had said something about those things, when they had met.

 

_“This appeared at the same time of the tower. Maybe there is the clue you’re looking for. Maybe there is something that could help you learn what had happened here, in the past…”_

 

She had a pretty good memory, when it didn’t come to stuff about herself, she realized, as Enji’s words came to her mind without any effort. She would gladly trade this quality over a bit of information about her past, but there was nothing she could do about it.

 

But still, she stopped and stared at the strange monument, noticing the alter on the front. It looked like the one on the tower, the one which reacted to her sheikah plate. Instinctively, she took up the engine, that was hanging at her handmade belt.

 

It would be easy, she thought, to go and just, test it. See if it started anything like in the tower. To get her answers by herself this time and not rely on Enji. Maybe it would give her some clue. Maybe what she would find inside would not judge her as “not ready” to hear the truth.

 

 _This is petty, come on Momo, don’t let anger dictate your actions,_ she ordered herself, as she reached the tower.

 

As much as she knew, this thing could also explode the very moment she put the plate on the altar. It was reckless to test it when no one was here to protect her is she -let’s say- was hit by a falling rocks!- and needed help.

 

But still, it was tempting.

 

 _If he is not back before i manage to check the whole plateau...Then, i will go there,_ she promised herself.

 

And as her eyes fell on the horizon, she couldn’t help but ask: _Is it okay with you? Can you wait until then?_

 

No one answered, but she felt a gush of warm wind. She hoped that it was a sign that it was okay, and not a silent cry for help.

 

The tower was huge and way more difficult to climb than before -of course since the first time she had been on the top platform and rose with it. The wall of the tower looked like a stoned ivy, so she had no trouble finding grips on it, the problem was definitely the height itself. But fortunately she was able to take a couple of break there and there when she found plateform.  

 

On the top, she had a full view of the place, and especially the castle surrounded by darkness. She forced herself to turn her back to the evil creature that threatened to destroy everything she knew.

 

A little bit out of breath -was it the effort it took her to reach this place, or the power she could feel coming from the dark clouds from afar- she sat, her legs hanging in the void, and started planning an itinerary, with the help of the map on the sheikah slate.

 

Momo spent the rest of her “day” exploring. First walking near the rift of the plateau, judging the distance with fear. She collected a few herbs, and walked walked walked, until she hit an obstacle too far to go alone. The mountain full of snow, for example. She walked until she was exhausted, until she could no more, and returned to the cabin.

 

Empty cabin.

 

She was too tired to be furious, so instead she put back all she had gathered during the day, started to note what she had found on a diary app she had found on the slate, and…

 

“Fire!”

 

She stared at her hands, which definitely didn’t produce any flame like Enji’s. Momo didn’t bother to hide her sigh of frustration. Why? What was she doing wrong? How was she supposed to use this power of her? Was it only working on weapon?

 

She closed her eyes again, and the first thing that came to her mind was the made up sword of the hero. The one inspired by Enji’s stories about Link. She could picture it perfectly, the blue guard, with ornamental wing, the jewel on the center, the faint blue light emitting from the blade. What caused it? Maybe it had fluorophore on it?

 

Momo opened one eye, feeling something tingling between her fingers, but no sword popped out of it like she had expected. Her hands were covered with sparkly dust that glowed quietly. Fluorescent glow.

 

She heard a song again, a soft tempo; just like small drop of water hitting the rock and echoing all around her. It clicked. Her mind went racing, even though she felt a knowing calmness wash over her tired body. Two dots connected together. Her knowledge of molecule, still present in her mind when nothing else remained, and the accident when she summoned an axe out her skin.

 

Could it be? Could she actually create those stuff as long as she knew the component it was made from?

 

Again, she closed her eyes, breathed in and out, and focused, and imagined again the sword of the hero.

 

The blade, iron with fluorophore for the glow. The guard...Lapis lazuli, maybe? She pictured the component of the precious ore, and wondered about the ornamental stone at the center. She couldn’t help but smile, as she decided to go for amber, just like the one she had saw when they had defeated the pebblit.

 

When Momo opened her eyes, all she had managed to create was the shiny amber stone, casting a beautiful orange light on her skin, and making herself hungry rather than angry.

 

***

 

Enji came back after three days. Three whole days. Well, as much as Momo could tell, since there was no day and night here, but she had eaten nine times and slept three times already, so she supposed it took that long. It sure felt long for Momo. Even the tiny things she learned about herself while she was alone didn’t lift up her mood as it came with a sense of dread and frustration. Three days wasted waiting when she could have accomplished much more if only the man had came back sooner.  Maybe she would have been able to explore the shrine! Or to master her power! But no!

 

“Where have you been?”

 

Enji stared at here, more surprised than pissed for once. Momo didn’t step back this time, her arms crossed ; she was the one being angry. He was the one in the wrong. He had broken his promise. And what if something had happened to him? Momo would have never known, she would have waited and waited..Until she couldn’t afford to wait anymore.

 

“I’ve been thinking about how to continue my story, simply answered the hermit, after a short hesitation.

-For three days?

-There are no such thing at ti-

-There is! Maybe there is no day nor night, but time passes and a lot of time had passed while i was waiting for you! You have to eat and sleep, at some point, you can count it! You can know how long it has been thank to that! And a long time had been spent! Time i could have spent training if you only had left me with anything else but questions without answers!

-Sorry. I didn’t realize so much had passed.”

 

Well. She hadn’t been expecting that. Momo felt her anger disappear when she had promised herself to stand her ground and press the oldman as soon as he had came back. Was she so easy to fool? Was she such a good character that she just couldn’t hold a grudge?  Was she truly this kind of person? No! She refused to accept that. She still wasn’t okay with what he had done, but...What was the point of being angry if he apologized already…?

 

Unsure of what to feel, she sighed, and grumbled. Oh god, she was starting to act like him now. It was very rude and unladylike, so she stopped, ashamed. So she redirected her energy elsewhere, something that would not feed her confused emotions, something practical.

 

“You had been alone for quite a long time, am i right?”

 

Enji didn’t answer, but his stubborn frown came back, giving her the confirmation. She had guessed right. She wondered what it felt like ; to stay here in the great plateau. She was already half mad after three days of solitude. The absence of night was hardest ; even though she couldn’t remember what a night was supposed to look like, she missed it. She missed the darkness as she was trying to sleep -the cabin could not erase all the sunlight. She missed having a mark, a point to rely on to just know what time it was. She missed having a purpose and someone to rely on, to meet when she woke up, and to say hello to.

 

 _I think i don’t like being alone,_ she realized, repressing a shiver.

 

Enji probably saw the compassion in her eyes, because he shook his head and found back his usual grumpiness :

 

“This is no excuse. We’ve wasted time because of me. You’re right, it’s time you learn how to use your power. Follow me.”

 

Momo couldn’t hide her enthusiasm : finally! As the hermit started to walk, she followed. He was fast and steady : full of determination, and it was hard to not lost sight of him, but she managed. As she had waited, she didn’t stay iddly. She trained her body as much as possible, trying to find back some equilibrium. After so long being asleep, it was a surprise that her muscle worked so well, but that didn’t mean she had been at the top of her form. Her walk during the second day did wonder ; she didn’t even had muscles pain, even after so much climbing. She had swam easely near the temple and managed to caught both frogs and fishes. She even experimented while cooking, and managed to do some vulnary and remedy. It seemed that, whatever she had been in the past, she had been athletic, and her reflex were slowly, but surely coming back.

 

If only her memories could do too.

 

“I told you that, since the beginning of the time, All for One and One for all fought, with their champion Zelda and Link” resumed Enji, as he walked steadily, as if he had never interrupted the story.

-Yes, in a cycle of reincarnation. Where were Zelda and Link when the Calamity wo-

-Later. I will explain that later. First i will talk to you about powers. As i said, AFO always came back. Every century or so, we have text that prove that he resurrected.

-Every century?”

 

Momo’s heart beat faster in her chest ; how could any civilisation rise in these conditions? One look around at the ruins could say how destructive this fight could be. One could probably just restore itself before the next fight started off again.

 

“Yes. Until one day, 10 000 years ago.”

 

Enji stopped, in front of an old staircase, which lead to another ruin a little bit down further. He pointed one of the strange statue Momo had already seen a scattered across the plateau.

 

“You see these robots. We call them guardians. They were built during that time, 10 000 years ago, apparently.”

 

Momo frowned. She hadn’t thought of these as creatures, but now that Enji talked about it, it gave another sense to what she was witnessing. What she thought were odd decorative choices, told her another story. A tragic one of robot attacking and destroying the place. The one before them was stopped as it was currently climbing the wall, its long legs stepping on the ruins with no mercy.

 

“What in the world happened...Why Robots from 10 000 years ago started-

-I will tell you about that later. For now, just look at them? The structure of it doesn’t remind you of something else?”

 

Momo frowned, again with his later, was his story so complicated to tell that it needed three days to think about it and yet, when he came back with a plan, no clear chronology? But she swallowed her pride -as it would bring her nothing- and did as he said, she watched and guessed.

 

“It looks like the shrine. And the tower. And the place i woke up.”

 

She hadn’t tell Enji how she came to her senses, alone and without any memory, yet. Probably because the man had first told her nothing about him, and so she did the same, but now, now that they shared something, the word had slipped out of her mouth. She was afraid it would freak him out, as it was certainly not a common thing to happen to people, but the hermit didn’t react at all. As if he didn’t care, as if his story was more important.

 

_As if he already knew._

 

“Exactly. All of those structures were built 10 000 years ago. When Hyrule civilisation reached its peak. I’m not a specialist of this period, to be quite honest, i didn’t care about it, so i can only tell you so much ; back then when AFO came back to life, the people fought him with machinas like these.”

 

Momo looked again at the robot, confused.

 

“But i thought that this AFO attacked 100 years ago, not a 10 000?

-Will you let me finish? I have a point, if you let me, i will be able to make it!

-I’m sorry, please proceed.”

 

Enji cleared his voice, grumbling a bit again.

 

“Again, they fought AFO, with machines, and the help of the Zelda and Link of their generation. We did not know what happened then. But it didn’t end well. AFO was sealed, but something happened afterward. The civilisation fell into ruins, and power started to appear all around the land. Power that once only appeared on the chosen ones, Zelda and Link. Powers like yours and mine. People called it “quirks” and 100 years ago, only a fragment of the population -only 20%- was born without one.”

 

The old hermit started to move again, and he entered the temple, going past the robot covered by mold and dust. Momo followed, though, this time, kept an eye on the machine. How weird. Things could really change, she had walked past those figures countless of time already since she had woken up, and she hadn’t thought of them as dangerous before. But now? Now she couldn’t help but expect them to move again and attack without any warning.

 

Did those robots attacked their owners, 10 000 years ago too? Was it the reason behind the fall of the civilisation? But what about powers; those quirks? She had thought she had been special, an anomaly, but apparently she had been quite normal, according to 100 years standards! No wonder Enji didn’t look phased at all when she talked about it...

 

“The thing is, thanks to whatever had happened 10 000 years ago, started Enji, as he made his way between the half fallen walls of the temple . AFO didn’t return as many time as before. It slowed down the reincarnation cycle drastically.

-This is a good thing then!

-Except, that it also weakened the royal family and it was impossible to know which one of the person with a power was the new Link. Or if it was AFO trying to hide and take power like he had done once, as the gerudo king. It was so bad that the king of that time, Endeavor, tried to forbid their utilisation in public, except for what he called heroes.”

 

Okay maybe not so much, then. But still, more people with power could also mean more people to fight AFO when he did come back, Momo couldn’t see it as a totally bad turn of events. She didn’t understand why it bothered this Endeavor King. Maybe because she had no clue how far the royal family had fallen, or maybe because she quite didn’t like what their power had done to this plateau, stuck in an eternal summer day. As she thought about that she hit the back of Enji and ended up on the grass.

 

The hermit had come to an halt without warning, his eyes fixed on old statue. Not a robot this time, but a real one, with a pedestal and a name on the plate.

 

It was a man, well built and strong, rising it fist to the sky as if he was coming through a tough battle,  wounded but victorious. His smile, despite the mold covering it, Momo could see the pain that hid underneath. But what dragged her attention was what the man was holding in his other hand. A sword. The exact same sword she had pictured in her mind. The sword of Link’s legend she had failed to re create.

 

Momo’s blood turned warm : this couldn’t be a simple coincidence. It was really the same sword, even the winged decoration on the guard was just as she had wondered. Somehow, it had to be some kind of clue about her past. Somehow she had saw this sword before. Maybe...Maybe even this man!

Her eyes fell on the plate, and she pushed away all the dust and plants that prevented her from reading it.

 

“Toshinori Yagi, the All Mighty Link, with his master sword, after his battle against AFO.”

 

The name didn’t ring any bell, unfortunately. So she looked at the sword again, as if it could fill the blank spot in her memory. She looked so hard that she even noticed the tiny cracks on the stone blade, that went through the tip to the guard. It wasn’t the type of damage that time could do, it was intentional, the artist made it that way. Why?

 

_Did something happened?_

 

She looked at the man, the stubborness in his jaw, the pain that seemed to leak through his muscles, as if every movement pained him.  

 

_Was it the reason why you weren’t there, 100 years ago?_

 

She turned to Enji, the only one that could explain, after all he was the one who brought her here. He probably had a good reason.

 

“Did he…”

 

But she was struck by Enji’s expression. She had seen him grumpy, angry, sad, and even apologetic before. But this time she just couldn’t name it. Enji looked broken, stuck between all those emotions from before, angry and sad, grumpy and apologetic, _old._ He stared at the statue as if he had wanted to burn it.  

 

Was it the reason why he had needed time? Was his decision to bring Momo here had been such a struggle? She didn’t know.

 

But she did the only thing that came to her mind, that seemed right. She approached him and took the hermit’s hand in her, squeezing as kindly as possible, forcing him to relax, to let go of the anger, to unclench his fist. For a moment Enji didn’t seem to notice her presence, then he froze and finally his eyes left the statue to fall on her, surprised.

 

As if he hadn’t expect someone to be there.

 

“Are you okay?

-You don’t have to care about me.”

 

But Momo cared ; they might be alone in this plateau, but they were alone _together._ That was why she had been so angry when he left without a word, she realized. Maybe the old man wasn’t used to have company, maybe he had lost sense of time -how cold he not, in this place?- but now it wasn’t the case anymore. Now Momo was there and she was listening. She was not going to leave him. So she expected -she wished- he would do the same.

 

“This kindness of yours is going to get you killed in this world if you’re not careful, stated Enji, angrily, as he shook her off. -Now stop caring about silly things and starts to train. Try to make this sword pop out of your body.”

 

Momo blinked, but not because of the rejection:

 

“How do you know how my pow-hum- “quirk” works?”

 

She hadn’t shared this information with him yet, as the official training had never started.  Tiny doubts inside her chest started to grow again. Enji grumbled, frowning again, he avoided her gaze as he stated:  

 

“You told me, you just don’t remember”

 

Had she? Fear shook her heart. Was she? Was she forgetting things? She had thought she had a good memory, but had she really, or was it an illusion? Could she not even count on the actu-

 

“Oy, don’t go spiralling, and focus on your task, ordered Enji.”

 

Easier said than done, of course! He wasn’t the one who woke up with nothing and now believed that could happen again with no warning. But she still tried because, even if it was true, what could she do about it?

 

_Nothing. Nothing. Everything i am could be taken away from me again. And i could do nothing._

 

This wasn’t scary, it was _terrifying_ . _Please stop thinking like that,_ she ordered her own mind. So terrifying that as she rose her arm to the sword and focused on her power, she found her arms shaking.

 

“I’m sorry, i...I just need a bit...i just need to calm down, she apologized to Enji, conscious that she was wasting his time and his patience.”

 

She was wasting her patience too ; she couldn’t do anything for her memory, so reason told her to focus on what she could actually improve : her power. To focus on what she had control of. She knew it was the right thing to do, but yet her body...her heart! It didn’t want to let go of that fear, it didn’t want to think about anything else and let herself being overwhelmed.

 

“Hey.”

 

She was taken aback by Enji’s hand on her shoulder, his gaze on her, worried.

 

“Are you okay? He asked. You look pale. Did you eat enough this morning? Don’t use your power if you hadn’t eaten before.”

 

Momo almost laughed, nervously.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s just...I’m afraid...to forget things...again…”

 

Enji’s frowned again, his hand left Momo’s shoulder as if it had burned him.

 

“Sorry -he said again, as it was apparently the day of apologies- I have lied, you didn’t talk to me about your quirk. I just happened to know someone who had a power like you in the past, so i know how to recognize the signs. I just didn’t want to talk about them.”

 

Momo’s heart made a strange loop, relief pouring inside her body as sadness clenched her chest. Why this cruel lie? She knew he didn’t know about her condition, as she hadn’t told him anything neither, but still. That...That was just…

 

No she couldn’t afford to be hurt by such stupid comment, especially when the one making it had no way of knowing it would hurt. Yes it hurt. But it was nothing but a lie. It was okay. Her memory was okay. It would not happen again.

 

“Don’t do that again, please, she still whispered, so weakly that she wasn’t sure the hermit even heard it. But he did. And he promised:

-I won’t.”

 

They resumed training. And This time Momo looked again at the stone sword, and focused on it, pictured it in her mind. Thought again of its components ; it didn’t work last tim, maybe because she only had the amber part right? Maybe the sword was not made of what she had thought and so...But what else could she be made off? She surely wasn’t made of stone like in the sta-

 

She hiccuped, as something heavy dragged her arms to the ground. Opening her eyes she saw the tips of the weapon roll on the ground, the exact replica of the one in front of her, with only tiny bit of amber jewel as decoration. Once it as fully made, she couldn’t even lift it, as t weighted like _tons._

 

“This isn’t what i expected, simply stated Enji puzzled as if he was facing a complicated riddle.

-Sorry. I don’t know how this work. I have tried to make it, while you were gone, but all i managed to do was to make some amber. And this time...

-You’ve tried it already?

-Yes. Somehow, i remembered the shape of the sword when you told me about it. I figured that my power could create weapons from my body, if i knew what their components were, but…It seems that i was wrong.

-Not just weapon, you can create almost anything, if you know what it’s made of and have already seen it.”

 

Enji sounded so sure of himself, she wondered how.

 

“I tried to make fire like you and it didn’t work.

-What? Don’t do that!”

 

He almost sounded scared.

 

“Why? It’s not that complicated and too different than...Making a stone sword!

-Because you stupid idiot, you don’t have a body that can manipulate it! So what fi, you manage to create a flame -i suppose you would need to think what the fire is, AND, what it would need to consume to stay alive...Then how to you manage to make it do what you want? It would only burn you alive!”

 

Momo was at loss ; was that why she didn’t succeed making fire? Because she hadn’t thought about it far enough, though about what the fire needed to stay? That made sense. As for controlling it, she supposed she could try something with oxygen, could she create air from her very skin? But that would lead the flames to her body and probably ends up as Enji foretold. Maybe if she managed to make something that could produce air, and re-direct it...like...a fan? That would be quite tiresome and not so effective. She could probably direct it way better if she managed to create beforehand a path with flammable liquid.  

 

“Are you listening to me, you idiot? Don’t do that! I can see you actually considering it! Screamed Enji, louder, pointing his finger on her, accusing -and right.

-You’re right, it would require too much effort for a doubtful and dangerous result, she agreed, ignoring the insults as much as she could.

-This is not even…-Ugrh, you stubborn brats are all the same!- It’s...Okay, so listen to me, and get this in your head once and for all, one of my son’s friend once said that “it’s your power” and he was right ; so don’t try to imitate other’s quirk, find your own way of using yours!”

 

That was, honestly the first good advice he gave her since he started mentoring her. That it came from his son’s friend was kind of worrying but still she would take it. After all, it was a sound point.

 

 _But how do i want to use my quirk? What is my own way?_   

 

Once again she missed her lost past, maybe back then, she had already found her way. But a glimpse of the scar on her torso made her think better ; whatever way she had chosen it had lead her to this sorry state after all.

“So my power doesn’t require to be right about the component? She asked after a little bit of reflexion.

-I...I do not know about that, i never asked, confessed Enji, his tone full of regret.”

 

Momo stared at the sword, once again, and then at her stone replica, sense of failure weighing her chest. But, at least, now she knew more about her power, and how it worked. Maybe they tried something too complicated at first, she could start with easier things, like...Like…

 

_Matrioshka?_

 

She didn’t know where the image came from, probably the same place she stocked all the information about elements, a place where everything she knew was locked. Yet, she could picture it perfectly ; made of wood and with a bit of paint, red, black, and yellow, she decided, picking the formula of the corresponding pigments. The doll would open in half to show another version of herself inside, just a little bit smaller.

 

Immediately the thing popped out of her forearm ; just as she imagined it. Except that it contained only one little doll inside, and not seven as it was the tradition. Probably because she had thought of only one in her mind.

 

_This is more complex than i thought._

 

But she didn’t allow herself to give up, as she had, at least something to do, to improve this time. Enji first seemed about to say something -when she stopped trying to create the master sword- but then sighed and went to a corner to sit and stare. His eyes kept following every single one of her movement, as if it was judging it. It was...embarrassing in a way she hadn’t expected. The science, especially, made her uneasy. Since she had no clue if what he found what he saw right or wrong.

 

“What about your power ? She asked him hoping to make him talk, at least, about something.

-What about it?

-How does it work?

-As simple as it looks, i can make fire. I can manipulate it, to some extent, though it is mostly because of the direction i decide to pop it out, and the consequences of that.

-Your body doesn’t get burned by your flames?

-No. There are person whose power are not able to withstand their quirk, and seems unadapted for it, but there are very few. Usually we are born with a body that is made for our quirk. Though it does not come without side effect when you overuse it.

-Like what?”

 

Enji grumbled.

 

“I overheat, for example, when i do use it too much. That’s why i use what you saw to “fly”, it limits the amount of flame i have to make to stay in the air. As for you, you shouldn’t use your power with an empty stomach. I don’t know the why, but if i recalled correctly, it took a lot of strain on your body’s energy. You might even faint because of hypoglycemia. That’s why your kind are always such glutton.”

 

Momo blushed ; embarrassed to be called a glutton. She did like food, there were no denying, she had lived with herself over enough meal to discover that already.

 

“You called me “thin” just the other day.

-You can be thin and still be a glutton, he smirked. -Now i will go and find you some food while you train, as we don’t want the glutton to faint.”

 

She almost, _almost,_ sticked out her tongue to him, but it was childish, so instead she said, with the most monocorde tone she could:

 

“I won’t wait three days.”

She heard him laugh -even his laugh sounded grumpy- but still, that was the first time since his return that he wasn’t awkward. And it was the first laugh she managed to get out of him too. Momo felt proud, as if she had defeated a bunch of Bokoblin all by herself. Full of energy, she continued her training, reproducing all that came to her mind -and that meant every single object she had found inside the cabin when she tidied it up.

 

In silent, she discovered many things.

 

First, that she could create thing from any part of her body, even her forehead. All she had to do was to spare a thought about where she wanted it to come from.

 

Second, she could make book quite easily, but they came out with blank pages, even when she thought of the words on it.

 

Third, the fact she was almost naked was useful, she discovered as she tore apart one of her pant’s leg, when she created a stick. She didn’t know what to think about this fact ; as fighting with almost nothing on her to protect herself was...not something easy to swallow.

 

_I suppose i could create protection right before getting hit, and even lure the enemy to aim for certain point of my body that way._

 

Like, immediately someone trained with the intent to kill would...Go for the heart first. A quick death. _Yeah, that’s what i would do at least._  So all she had to do, was when the hit was about to arrive…

 

She closed her eyes and pictured a shield. But nothing came out, for once. So, annoyed by her lack of reference she opted for lid of the jar they cooked in, back in the cabin. It came out without any effort this time and just where she had wanted, at the top of her chest. Of course it fell to the ground soon after, but she could work with that.

 

She was starting to see stars, though, and decided to stop before she actually faint. As Enjj has feared. Unfortunately the man hadn’t come back yet neither, and despite her joke, she feared that he had lost sense of time again, for real.

 

Lying in the grass, she wondered at the fallen ruins around. what was the purpose of this place? How was it, when it was not 100 years plus a calamity’s attack old? It looked big, from her point of view. And she could spot some decayed paint there and there.

 

_I suppose i could take a look around, while waiting for him._

 

So she stood, her legs feeling a bit clumsy again and her stomach grumbling in protest. In order to not get lost, she created a tiny red thread and tied it to the “All Might” statue after a short prayer:

 

_I’m sorry for using you that way, please watch over me._

 

She looked at the thread, which she didn’t made pop out of her arm totally yet - _wonder how long i can keep it, and how much i can produce before feeling tired?-_ It was an experience itself, a test of her power too, that was a good back-up reason to explore.

 

But the truth was that she was just too curious about it to stay still. _I am curious._ That very thought made her all happy and jittery despite her hunger.

 

And she could read ; she knew she could, thanks to the very few books of recipes there was in the cabin, but she could also read the strange letters carved in the stone walls. It took her a little while to actually realize that the letter forming the word she read were different from the usual ones. She was fluent in two languages! For once she thanked her past-self.

 

Humming, she approached a commemorative plate that was almost intact, under the ivy. From what she could gather, the place was a sort of museum, where they exposed everything related to what they called “Godesses’ champions” so she supposed it was Link, Zelda, and maybe AFO. What a brilliant idea to keep artefact inside a place that could escape the grip of time! Well...except when it was attacked and destroyed by 10 000 years old robots, she supposed, but surely they couldn’t have predicted that. (And now that she thought about it, Enji got away without telling her how robots 10 000 years old had anything to do during the calamity 100 years ago, she was beginning to feel a little lost with this timeline...).

 

Unfortunately, most of the art of the museum had been destroyed, but as she wandered across the room -and thanking her red thread every time she took a turn in this labyrtinth- she fell into something that had managed to survive. Statues, again. Lots, lots of statues. Most of if had lost a limb or two -some even their head- but they still got some paint and a plate with a name on their pedestal.

 

One represented a blonde man in green tunic, holding the master sword, with an ocarina tied to his waist besides him, a girl with blonde hair too, and big eyes, dressed regally, stood, holding a bow. Both of them had pointy ears, and a triangle tattooed on their hand.  Matching tattoos, it was kind of romantic!

 

It said that their name -oh surprise- Link and Zelda, Heroes of time. And also that the statue was gift for Hyrule Castle. So maybe it wasn't a museum but the "summer castle" of the royal family ? She hoped people could still come and see and learn. It would be a shame to keep all this knowledge to royalties only.

 

She looked in the direction of what the said heroes were facing and stared at an half fallen statue of a man. He kind of reminded her of Enji, with his giant size, his red hair and his severe gaze. His nose, though, was something else. She read “Ganondorf...Something Geru-something.” The plate at his feet but the rest was unreadable.  Maybe Gerudo? Like the king of the Gerudo AFO? Or maybe a weird name.

 

There was also some heroes of Twilight, not far away, but their statues wasn’t as lucky as their fellow comrades, as a chandelier had crashed on it, with probably half of the ceiling. All that had managed to avoid destruction was a beautiful wolf carved in the stone. All she had seen so far were a bird, and lot -and by that she meant a lot- of half destroyed awful pigs.

 

A few steps away Momo found a vitrine where there were the remains of what were probably ceremonial dresses and a few jewelries. Bunch of paintings still hanged on what was left of the wall, but they had been mostly destroyed. One though, brought her attention, as the way it had been broken was different from the others.

 

Other either fell, or were stepped on by something huge and heavy, but this one...This one had partly burned. Nothing in this area indicated that a fire had spread (and Momo couldn’t help but feel stupid relief over it ; there was just so little that had survived, a fire would have destroyed everything!).

 

Carefully, she came closer to the painting and tried to see what it could have looked like, under all the ashes. A plate stated that it was “King Endeavor, Queen Rei, and their children : Fuyumi, Touya, Natsuo and-” Ah the rest of the plate had been destroyed by something. Well, it didn’t matter. So...A family portrait! The man in the center, probably King Endeavor, had taken most of the damage and she couldn’t see his face at all, only his royal clothes. Besides him, a beautiful woman was sitting, her white long hair tied up under a crown. Maybe it was because of the damages done, but Momo found her expression very sad. Though, they both had their opposing hands tattooed with a triangle like the heroes statues.  Could it be the proof they were married?

 

To their feets, played four children. A little girl, that looked the oldest among them was probably around 10, and she looked exactly like her mother, with only tiny strand of red hair in her mane and glasses on her nose. A boy, frail and small, clinged to his sister’s arms, but Momo couldn’t make the color of his hair, as the ashes turned the pigment black.  Another one was taller, more athletic and joyful, with the same hairstyle as Enji but with white hair.

 

She laughed. Everything reminded her of Enji here, that was becoming a little bit worrying. Maybe it was because he was the only other person she had met until now.

The last boy was barely a baby, playing on the ground rather than looking at the camera. He had the most strange hair color of all, with half of his mane being white, and the other being red. This little one, reminded her of the owner of the voice.

 

_This is getting bad, Momo._

 

She was trying to see if the baby boy’s eyes were green, the only thing she truly remembered about the owner of the voice, when she noticed something strange.

 

The baby boy had tattooed hand too, both of his had a triangle on it, unlike its parents.

 

_What would that mean?_

 

She could say goodbye to her marriage-proof-theory. Unless it was normal to marry a toddler, 100 years ago. If so she was okay living in the present. Even if...She looked at the tiny figure of the girl in the picture, her heart squeezing tight in her chest.

 

She knew it was unfair of her, to be jealous. Really, the girl was probably dead, killed by time at best, by the calamity at worst. Yet, Momo couldn’t help but wish she had found a painting, or even a silly drawing, that represented her in the past, with her own family. To know their faces, at least. Because she had to, right?

 

She had a family, at some point, too, right?

 

Even if they were probably as dead as the little girl in the painting.

 

It hurt too much watch, so Momo stepped into a new area, with no regret.

 

The place had pavement, once upon a time, pavement with color themes (one color had annotation that gave off a date) and even some mosaics. It was sad, to see such beautiful work of art being reduced to this sorry state, only a fragment of what they probably had been. She followed the line with the less number on 1000, hoping to find more clues about the era Enji told her about.

 

“Momo? Where are you?”

 

Enji’s voice resounded all around her. He had arrived -and not taken three days this time!

 

“I’m over here, follow the red thread!” She screamed. “I was just looking aroun-”

 

She stopped. This part of the ruins were in worse shape than the rest ; the whole ceiling had collapsed and robots laid down, covered by rust and grass, desactived. Not a single art piece had survived, only walls, by some miracle, still stood. What a pity. Judging by how spacious it looked, the place should have been majestic and beautiful ; probably a hall or hosting some huge artefact it was too bad that…

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Someone -she didn’t have to guess who- pulled her by the arm. Enji looked furious -way too furious than she had expected.  

 

“T...train?” she said, remembering her excuse and pointing the thread she was still creating. “And, i suppose, investigate about the past too? a bit?” She added, not wanting to lie to him.

 

If at first Enji’s features had soften, it was gone the moment she talked about the past and she was afraid he would set himself on fire at this rate. He looked that angry. Why?

 

“You can’t! YO-”

 

He grumbled, breathed in, out, and grumbled again.

 

“You should have stayed where i left you!

-Why?”

 

It was an honest question ; she just couldn’t see a reason why she should have stayed put. And apparently Enji had no good reason to give her either because he only hiccuped, indignied.

 

“That’s it, i shouldn’t have showed you this place, let’s get back to the cabi right now!” He finally said, as his grasp on Momo’s arm tightened and he started to drag her with him. Momo stumbled, so surprised -both by his violent reaction, and the direction he was taking, not going back but front.

 

“Don’t make it more difficult than it’s already is, youn-”

 

But she never heard the rest, as, when her knee hit the ground, she catch a glimpse of light at her right. It took her only an heartbeat to realize that the light came from one of the statue. Then another to reconsider. It didn’t come from one of the statue. It came from one of the robot.

 

From a guardian.

 

Her blood ran cold.

 

“Look out!” She screamed, as the eye -awful blue- of the machina fell on them, and a red light locked itself on Enji’s chest.

 

Enji saw it in time. And he pushed Momo away as far as he could, jumping back. First Momo felt cold, then she felt warm. A red ray spurted from the machina’s eyes and destroyed everything in its path.

 

She should have been scared, terrified even, as she was facing a creature that was 1000 years old, had destroyed a calamity and then a whole civilisation. But all she could think off at that moment was “The museum!” as a tiny fire started to spread cutting their way out.

 

“Damnit! They didn’t work last time i was there! They must have woken with you!” cursed Enji, on the other side of the room.

 

Momo stop and stared. Her brain definitely not working correctly because instead of focusing on the giant robot that was attacking them, all it registered was Enji’s words.

 

_He knew!_

 

But she didn’t had the time to confront him and his lie, as there was more urgent matter to press her right now. Like, how to escape from here, alive. She rose on her feet once again, only to avoid another laser beam from the beast.

 

“Get out of its range! It’s dangerous!” Screamed Enji, as he tried to use his flame to engulf the machina.

 

It didn’t work. Apparently those thing were fireproof. Of course! Momo obeyed Enji -it was stupid to be rebellious in time like this- and tried to get behind a wall, but found herself cornered. The fire on her back, cutting her way out, The robot and Enji’s fighting on the front. Only having a couple of heartbeat to make a decision, she decided to try to climb her way out.

 

“Momo! Take cover!”

 

Probably sensing that one of its prey were escaping, the robot changed aim, and his laser eyes fell on Momo. Biping like crazy.

 

_What do i do? What do i do?_

 

She had no time to climb, no wall to hide behind, and Enji...If Enji tried to use his flames she would probably get burned too. That…

 

The biping increased, as much as her own heartbeat. She had no more time. A way out. A solution. _Think! Think! Think of something!_

 

_Hydrogen! No, bad hydrogen. Explosion! Water. Water good. But useless now! Think! Think! Think of something! Anything!_

 

She thought of something stupid ; when the robot launched his laser, she created the kitchen lid from the cabin, but ironed, as if something so small could be used as a shield. She just hoped that it would take most of the damage. Not that it would repel the attack back. Because that was not how laser worked.

 

Except that it did.

 

Momo was propulsed on the grass, the impact being too strong for her to withstand it ; but the lid didn’t explode. And when she got up, seeing stars, blood in her right eye, a strange scene laid before her : the laser beam had touched the machine, and damaged it. The robot was confused and bipping like crazy again, not as much as Momo’s heart though, as if it didn’t understand how it could have happened. And honestly Momo was in the same state as him. How was its laser made to be repelled by a  lid?! How physics worked there? She needed an update!

 

Though, she had no time to question the gods -especially when their strange law actually saved her life. And the beam didn’t just hit the robot, apparently it had a rebound, and also smashed a nearby wall, opening a new path.

 

“Enji! She screamed to her lying mentor. And not finding the word she pointed the direction of their escape route.”

 

The hermit, as shaken as her, had better reflex, and took the Robot’s confused state as an an opportunity. He ran to Momo, took her under one of his arm, and rushed to the exit then stunted abruptly.

 

The wall didn’t lead to an exit, but to a shrine. A single room with a shrine like the one near the tower! That was infuriating! She was about to turn to Enji and stell him to climb the wall, sticking to her original plan, but apparently the hermit had another idea.

 

He threw her inside the shrine at full force.

 

Momo’s back hit something hard and she rolled, her breath taken away. She had barely the time to notice that Enji had the Sheikah plate in his hand, as the man put it on the altar.

 

Something clicked. The orange light turned blue all around her. And then she felt like coming down. The platform she was one was slowly coming down.

 

“What are you doing?!

-I’m putting you to safety, he replied, throwing the sheikah plate to her.”

 

He didn’t make a move to join her. Even turned his back, facing the guardian once again.Momo started to panic ; even if she was angry at him for hiding the truth she was not okay leaving him behind! Not now. Not never and especially facing such a scary, destructive monster!

 

“Enji! Get inside too! She heard herself scream, as she tried to reach him.

-No.

-You’ll get yourself killed!”

 

She heard him laugh, a pitiful, yet broken laugh:

 

“No one can truly die on the Great Plateau.”

 

Then the platform stopped, Momo felt herself surrounded by a warm light, as the scenery faded away, Enji disappearing with it along with the guardian.

  



	7. The shrine of destruction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like days off, I can spend the whole time writing **
> 
> Anyways things starts to truly change and step away from the game at the end of the chapter.   
> I will also reassure you : I will not describe every single shrine's trial xD There 120 of them in the game so...I will only talk about important's ones for the narrative standpoint. Where Momo actually learns something or have character's development.
> 
> Now, I wish you a good time as you read this chapter ^^ As much as I had writing it!

 

_No one can truly die in the Great Plateau._

 

There was a faint light, warm and kind, dancing between her eyelashes. Like a blue flame. And this time again, she woke up, alone in a unknown place, a different voice ringing to her ears.

 

_No one can truly die in the Great Plateau._

 

She knew exactly who said that, and she knew where he was right now. She tried to come back, tried to make the damn sheikah plate work and teleport back, as soon as she opened her eyes. But the altar didn’t react at all, despite her effort, the sheikah plate only informed her with a monocord voice : “Error_Trial not complete yet” as explanation.

 

The red thread she had been making while exploring the museum ruins had been cut, and laid on the ground, still linked to her forearm but nothing else. As a proof to her that there was no way to go back anymore.

 

Momo was furious, but most of all, Momo was scared.

 

_No one can truly die in the Great Plateau._

 

Enji had said, as he put her into safety and faced the danger of a guardian alone. He had said that before, but back then he had been talking about monsters, about a pebblit. She had never assumed it would be the same for people.

 

It should be comforting, she knew that. That meant the hermit would made it out okay. That meant that it wasn’t the end and that she hadn’t lost yet the only person she knew. But it was not. Because if it was true, then why would Enji put _her_ into safety? Why did he threw his life away and not Momo’s, if surely, there was no risk of dying? There had to be some kind of trick, some kind of metaphorical senses behind his words...But she just...Couldn’t get it.

 

And there was no way to know the truth if she stayed still, here, forever stuck in this place. She had to find another way out. The sheikah talked about a trial.

 

“Let’s take it, then.” The sound of her own voice helped, cutting the silence and echoing alla round. It was better than feeling all alone again.

 

She left the plateform and looked around, her heart too heavy in her chest. The whole place reminded her of the place she had woken up. The same dusty atmosphere, the faint blue light. It sent her back to a place she had never wanted to be again.

 

Still, it’s not like she had any other choice. So, once again, she gazed around and analyzed her options. The whole place was sealed, a square with just walls all around. One seemed, on the front though, looked weaker than the other three. The altar to get out had an error message, but there was another one, a few meters away. She reached it and put the sheikah plate on it.

 

Once again letters appeared on the screen.

 

“Trial of the shrine of destruction : your power will be your guide.” it simply stated.

 

Great. Really helpful, thank you very much! She almost answered.

 

She tried to push the weakest wall, but of course, it didn’t bulge one tiny bit. Maybe an explosion could do something about it. But wouldn’t it weakened the whole structure and risk to make everything fall down on her head? And in such a narrow tiny area, she could really well be hit by the wave of destruction. She would at the very least, destroy her hearing skills.

 

Momo stared at the ceiling which seemed very far away, bathed in blue light. The path wall seemed strong enough to support it, only a small part seemed damaged and destroyable. And besides, didn’t the whole name of the shrine was “destruction”? If it was a clue, then that meant all she had to do was to step on everything like a barbarian.

 

Maybe if she made a bomb out of her body -tiny enough so she could be okay...Well, that was the only solution that came to her mind right now. The problem is that she had absolutely no clue how to make a bomb that size, has she had never seen one before -at least not that she recalled. She had a clue on how to make it, what she would need but...

 

_No one truly die on the Great Plateau._

 

Enji’s voice, again, reminded her that she had no time to waste. She needed to save him. She needed to save two voices, stuck in her head now.

 

Momo was hungry, and she felt weak at the very thought of using her power again. But she had no choice.

 

 _Maybe i could make some food by myself,_ she thought, but disregarded that away very fast ; it would probably burn as much energy making it as it would give her back when eaten -in the best case scenario. In the worst she would waste energy and gaining back a little less. She couldn’t afford that right now.

 

So she sat, and started to type a list of ingredient on the sheikah plate. To make sure to not make less, or too much. That’s whens he stumbled on something ; an app she hadn’t seen before. It looked like an encyclopedia. She clicked on it.

 

“Sheikah Online encyclopedia” it stated.

 

 _It wasn’t here before,_ she was sure of it, and judging by the small icon on the top left of the screen, she assumed that it was only available here, inside those shrines. Curious, she quickly look through it, in case something would be useful. There was.

 

Momo couldn’t help but smile. Yes. That was the perfect alternative. Without a second of hesitation she took off her top and started to focus on the image the tablet had on screen.

 

“Sheikah canon”

 

Apparently it was made from what the Sehikah tribe called “Time stone” -like everything the sheikah tribe do, added a note- and there was luckily, the chemical formula written for everything. As if this very app had been made for her.

 

It took more time to pop out the beast than to make a sword, probably because of the size of it. And the effort left Momo on her knee, out of breath, seeing stars. But it was worth it. Now she had a canon which created special bom by itself -said the note- and she had made wheel under it so she could drag it with her. That way she would save some energy.

 

She covered her ears, as she drew the cord of the weapon, and immediately hid behind it.

 

Except nothing exploded as she had expected. Surprised, she opened one eye, and stared at her target : intact. The canonball had rolled to the wall, but didn’t explode. Had she made a mistake?

 

Momo’s belly grumbled, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to make another without fainting. She was about to go back to her first plan -making normal bomb one after another- when the plate started beeping.

 

“Sheikah bomb detected within the area. Do you engage?”

 

Momo blinked. Somehow, what she had made seemed to synchronize with her plate. She was curious to see how it worked. (But unfortunately, she neither had the time nor the tool to satisfy her curiosity). So, listening to her intuition she clicked on the “Yes” button.

 

The bomb exploded behind her back. Luckily Momo had been far enough to not be touched, when the wall crumbled. But her ears! Damn it.

 

At least her creation wasn’t useless -she still liked normal canon better, she decided, even though she never actually saw one before.

 

Anyways the path had been cleared, and so the trial could begin.

 

Momo breathed in, trying to find some courage, and then made the first step, pushing her canon with her. When she was met with another dead end, she understood that the canon was a good idea, and despite the weakness in her knee, she still took the time to run through the encyclopedia again.

 

Orcarina...Wind waker baton...Nothing that could be used to protect her ears, unfortunately. Plus it seemed like everything was made of this time stone thing. So since it didn’t work, she improvised something with cloth and what was left of the red thread hanging from her arm. She probably looked ridiculous, but at least no one was there to see it.

 

_Except if the voice can see me._

 

She blushed, part of her wanting to have someone by her side, but the other part so ashamed by the very idea that she put back her top.

 

Anyways, as ridiculous and unorthodox as it was, it worked, when she fired another bomb at a weakened wall, her earing skill were okay this time. She found some chests, with weapons. (A sword, a claymore to be exact, and when momo found this her fear came back. She sure hoped she wouldn’t have to fight anything during this trial. But she had little hope).

 

Wall that needed to be destroyed were easy to notice : as they were crackled and not painted and carved like the others. Whoever had built this wanted the solution to be clear and easy to understand. And when she pushed her canon she even noticed painting and writing on the wall, describing what to do. It was the same alphabet as the one in the museum, easy to read:

 

“You who have the power of the triforce of power, use your ability to prove your worth, let the shard power resonate within you and guide you. Do not worry about the destruction you cause, as the power of the time stone will erase all your bad deed in this place.”

 

Triforce. Shard. And again this time stone! The words rang in her head. Was it truly speaking about the God’s ultimate artefact? The one that could grand wish? There was only one way to find out.

 

People painted on the wall seemed to have different ability, but mostly they seemed to destroy everything in they path. So Momo supposed she was doing the right thing (but she was relieved to know that her destroying will be erased somehow, even though she didn’t know how). She continued pushing her canon until she finally was stopped by a big obstacle : a ladder that lead to another floor.

 

One look at the heavy canon was enough. She would not be able to level it by hand. Fortunately the wallway was long. So Momo created a longer ladder, so she could roll the canon on it to the upper level.

 

And she woke up on the cold ground without realizing it.

 

A chill came down her spine, as Enji’s word rang in her ears, different this time.

 

_“As for you, you shouldn’t use your power with an empty stomach. I don’t know the why, but if i recalled correctly, it took a lot of strain on your body’s energy. You might even faint because of hypoglycemia.“_

 

This wasn’t good. how long had she been out? Momo managed to get back on her feet, and see the ladder, half produced and still very much attached to her chest. Making it pop out and detach made her see stars. She really, couldn’t afford to do anything more.

 

_How long is this trial?_

 

She hoped it was soon over, because with no other way out, no food nor water…

 

She closed her eyes and tried not to think about what it would mean for her.

 

_No one truly die in the great Plateau._

 

Well maybe, but she wasn’t excited to find out!

 

Fortunately, she managed to go through her plan, as she had created enough material before fainting. So she put the canon on the “rail” and pushed. and pushed. and Pushed!

 

It sure required a lot of power to complete it, she thought, as she collapsed again, out of breath, once she finally reached the level.

 

She found back her energy when she witnessed something unbelievable : a floating platform going from one side of a short gap, from another. The technology from 10 000 years ago wa definitely amazing! Would she be able create that too, if she understood how it worked, one day? She sure hoped.

 

Anyways, It was evident that whoever made this trial wanted her to go through this, but a bunch of rocks blocked the way. She fired with her canon  again and destroyed it, before pushing her weapon to the platform, a bit afraid. It still floated, not caring about the weight at all.

 

Truly amazing. Arf! if only she had the time to analyze it! But the tablet didn’t have any information about it neither, not even in the encyclopedia…

 

The next room was way more spacious than all the previous one. When other felt like tunnel, or hallway, this one truly felt like a ballroom sized chamber. Well, if you didn’t care about giant mecanisms that seemed to propulse balls all around. Momo noticed numerous stairs there and there too and couldn’t help but sigh. She truly didn’t have any energy left for that.

 

Fortunately after a quick gaze around she noticed three things. One treasure chest that could probably be reached if she stepped on the giant mecanism and let herself be thrown away -but she decided it was not worth it, as she didn’t even know what to do with the claymore she had found earlier yet. Another pack of rocks blocking one pathway on the other side. And, on the end of the blocked pathway, something shiny and blue. It looked like the end of the trial. (She prayed that it was it).

 

To destroy the pile of rocks was more complicated than she had thought, as she couldn’t find a right angle for her balls to reach it. But - and it didn’t take long to see it- one of the mecanism seemed to be made especially for throwing bomb at the exact good spot.

 

The Sheikah canon, as said in the encyclopedia, didn’t need canon balls and to be loaded. That was why she had chosen to make it in the first place. The description had said that it created one ball and that, thanks to the “time stone” it would recreate the same one, over and over again within its core. Hence why it could one ball at the time and needed a little bit of time (honestly not so much) before being able to reload and shoot again.

 

So Momo made the canon shoot, one last time, but instead of making it explode, she grabbed it this time. It was beautiful -she hadn’t took the time to admire it before. The sphere looked like it was made of glass and it emitted a pale blue light that Momo started to find quite familiar.

 

It took her merely second take the ball to the mecanism, let it propulse it to the right spot, and push the button “engage” at the right moment in order to destroy everything. Without a second though she left behind her creation and climbed her way to the now free path to the top.

 

She found an altar, once again, in front of a strange cube filled with light. One tiny glow of gold shone within. Without any clue, she put the sheikah tablet on the altar and waited for instruction.

 

“Congratulation hero, you, who had been chosen by the shard of power, step into the light and receive its blessing.” it simply said.

 

 _I hope i can go out, after this,_ thought Momo as she climbed the short staircase. _Will it grant one of my wish?_

 

She stopped, right before stepping into the light.

 

_What if it does?_

 

Enji had said that the triforce could grant wish. If truly that was one shard, and this trial a way to keep it safe, was she allowed to ask for something? If so, what would she ask? Of course, Momo thought of her memory. To know who she had been who she was. But…

 

Enji. And the owner of the voice. They were in danger, they were waiting for her right now. If truly this could grant wish, gave her the power to save them...Wouldn’t they come first?

 

It hurt. It really hurt to think about it. What if it was the only way to have her memory back? But again, what if it was also the only way to save them? She was alive and breathing, how could she trade the right to live of someone she knew, someone that saved her, someone that needed her, for a couple of souvenirs?

 

_But i want to know who i am!_

 

She shook her head, fighting against her desire, reason and heart beating one another. There would be other way, there were other shrine, she at least saw another one. She could try the trial again. (She hoped it was a trial and not something entirely different). She managed to clear one, she could do another. She could have another wish.

 

So...First, if the opportunity arose, she had to save them _first._

 

It didn’t make the decision any less painful, as she finally stepped into the light and grabbed the faint golden glow. It felt like diving into warm water, suddenly, she couldn’t breath, yet didn’t need any. There was no more ground under her feet and no more ceiling above her head. Everything went white.

 

_Am i fainting?_

 

But she didn’t, she stayed wide awake. Momo stood up, in this field of nothingness, lost. And nothing happened. She waited. And waited. But nothing happened. She stared and stared, until the whiteness hurt her eyes. But nothing happened.

 

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

 

Her voice didn’t even echo. A dreadful feeling seized her gust. Fear and doubt crumbled her faith. She saw no exit. She saw no one. She saw...Nothing.

 

“Anyone!”

 

She started to run, but didn’t go anywhere. The same landscape over and over again. The same nothingness. No light, no gold, nothing. She didn’t feel like she was moving foward, she felt like she had been ran into water, suspended on the ground without advancing even a inch.

 

“Answer me!”

 

Momo was out of breath. Momo was scared. Momo was all alone.

 

She closed her eyes and wished to hear the voice. To hear Enji. To hear hallucination. Anything. With shaking hands, she took up her sheikah plate, but the screen simply stated:

 

“You are not worthy”

 

What had she done wrong?What part of her plan failed? Was it another part ot the trial? Was it something she had to overcome again?

 

Destruction. The shrine of destruction. She needed to destroy this place, then? How? Without a second though, she took the claymore from the trial, that had been hanging on her belt, and held it high above her head before swinging it to the floor.

 

Nothing happened again. Momo didn’t even fight back the tears filling her eyes.

 

“Let me out!”

 

She swung the sword again.

 

“Please let me out!”

 

She didn’t want to be stuck here forever! Enji needed help. The voice couldn’t reach her anymore! She was scared and she had no idea what she had done wrong, she didn’t even wanted to be here in the first place! She arrived by accident! That was unfair!

 

It felt like being back to this day, in the temple, in front of the goddess statue. Alone. Lost. Broken. And just like that day, Momo fell into her knee, all of her strength and courage gone, and cried.

 

This time, not even a lullaby reached her though. She cried and cried, until there was nothing left. Until she understood that no one, absolutely no one would ever hear her plea.

 

No parent would come to her help, their faces and name lost in her slumber. No savior. No Enji. No voice. No one. All she could do was count on herself to get out of this mess.

 

_So think. Think Momo. What can you do?_

 

She forced herself to sit back, once again. She didn’t know how long she had been here, crying, but her cheek had dried off by now.

 

_No food, and no water anymore._

 

Momo was stuck in a strange place, both physically and mentally. _Think._ She felt no energy left in her body, yet still had the will to move. _Think._ She had no other choice, and that was enough to replace the absence of everything else. _Think of a plan._

 

She stared at her forearm, and thought back of the museum. The red thread she had used to find her way back. She hadn’t reap it off completely from her arm, the cut bout was still hanging, forgotten. Until now.

 

A red thread in a field full of whiteness. The image, somehow, comforted her. She could find her way back. She could create a way home with this. Even if she was hungry. Even if she fainted. As long as she had the power to create, she could, somehow…

 

Slowly, she pulled the thread, and with a bit of sparkles, it started to grow out again, just like before.

 

The sheikah plate started beeping.

 

Momo didn’t even have the force to be startled by the sound, she simply looked down and stared at the screen, without any hope. Without any clue. _She was not worthy,_ after all, _she was all alone._

 

And surely, the engine still said:

 

“You are not not worthy.”

 

Except, this time, it continued.

 

“You are not destruction but creation.”

 

She frowned, as the message continue, and for the first time, she heard a voice, deep and low, as ethereal as the wind.

 

“You are not power but wisdom.”

 

She stood up, as the white field started to crumble, one faint glow falling from the heavens above. As small as a nail, it looked like a shard of a broken golden glass. The voice sounded like it came directly from it, and not from the Sheikah plate anymore. Yet Momo could still read its every word.

 

“What does it mean? She asked, not caring that she was talking to an floating object. To be honest, she was too tired to find things strange anymore. All she wanted was to go home.”What is the meaning of all of this? She started to say, louder. This trial! This white room! The triforce! What is happening exactly? Why am i stuck here, when i managed to clear the trial!”

 

For a moment there was only silence, and Momo felt disgusted. Disgusted at the whole world, at everything. Was it too much to ask to simply understand what she was going through?

 

“10 000 years ago”

 

Momo looked up, her heart beating fast, hope filling up her vein once more.

 

“10 000 years ago, the shard started. Hyrule was at his peaks. What was three became one again. Time that had been once broken reunited and a golden age started, the kingdom flourished.”

 

The white field changed, and under her very feet, Momo witnessed a miracle. Or maybe not. More like an hallucination. It changed. As if she was flying among the clouds she saw a green land full of blue flowers. Building rising, one after one, statue, tower like the one she had climbed. Enormous mecanic statues walking among laughing people. Bird character living among weird shapped rock beast, fishy creature diving into the river and catching fish for pointy little human like her. Tribe with black skin and hair as red as Enji, shaking hands with people with white hair and red eyes in a middle of an oasis, as a robot -the very same one that attacked us, helped them building a temple.

 

“The curse…”

 

The golden shard continued, and when Momo looked at it again, she saw a changing shadow. First it looked barely human, then it was an gigantic monster with sharp teeth and scale, then human again, monster, human, monster human…

 

Ganondorf. She recognized the shadow for a second, before it was replaced by a giant pig, again, and again, and again.

 

“The curse came back and we fought.”

 

Everything started to move faster. People underneath her feet started to run. The black shadow changed form like crazy, stepping on everything and laughing silently as it destroyed what had taken so much time and effort to build.

 

“But the sacred treasure was lost to Demise.”

 

One black hand flew to one temple, and came back, helding within its fist one golden triangle. Momo recognized the pattern of the tattoo.

 

“The triforce” she whispered, suddenly understanding.

 

Three divine triangles forming  a single one.

 

Then a man in a green tunic arrived, helped with a blonde princess in a mighty dress. He raised his sword, the master sword, and mechanical creatures rose. They aimed Momo and shoot their laser beam right at her.

 

She couldn’t help but scream, and instinctively, she created a shield to protect herself. But the attack only hit the shadow behind the golden shard. Then the princess held her hand, and everything was stopped, before the man in green tunic rushed to him and plunged his sword into the heart of the beast. Into the divine artefact.

 

“We had to destroy it, before the darkness swallowed it all.”

 

Like rain, tiny ember fell to the ground. Shards, just like the one before her, understand Momo. And despite the beauty of an hundred shooting stars, Momo couldn’t help but feel the loss. The triforce had been gone. Destroyed completely along with the enemy. The silhouette of the princess and the hero faded, and the master sword hit the ground, one giant crack dividing its blade.

 

“We had to make sure that no one would ever use it again, and so we hid it.”

 

Under her feets, where each shard had felt, a shrine rosen built by the remaining people. No more bird, or fish, or rock, slowly, but surely, they started to become less and less what they had been and to turn more and more like Momo. Nothing. A shadow of their past selves.

 

Yet, suddenly, someone shouted. Someone started to float, without wing. Someone started to swim without fin. Someone started to roll like a stone. And each time one of them discovered their power, their quirk, the golden shard shone brightly.

 

“I bless people with my power. Destruction. Anger. Hatred. Pride.”

 

Momo looked at it, starting to understand.

 

“I cannot go with you, as you are blessed by wisdom. Creation. Intelligence. Doubt. Fear.”

 

Momo shook her head, guessing what would come next. The whole place turned white again, and slowly, but surely, illusions faded away.

 

“Hence i cannot leave and so can you not. This is nothing but a trial to prevent darkness to claim me again.

-Then show me who can! She heard herself say.”

 

For a moment, there was a silent, and she feared that what she was asking was impossible. That she was going to be trapped, here, forever, only because somehow, she had fallen in a shrine that had a shard of the triforce of power, instead of the wisdom one.

 

“I want to be whole again” the shard finally said.

 

Momo took the opportunity.

 

“I will find people that can take you out of this, people that will make you whole again!”

“I want to meet those i blessed. I want to see the land flourish once more. I want to destroy the one who destroyed me. Will you grant me this wish? Will you end this curse?”

“I will!” She promised.

 

She didn’t know if she could, but if that was her only way out, if it was the price of her liberty, she could at least try her best to accomplish that.

 

When she had stepped into the light, she had thought she would be granted one wish, not be the one to grant one. But she had not plan to be trapped forever into a field of nothingness either.

 

“Then please, bring them to me” said the shard.

 

Everything turned gold, so fast, so brightly, that Momo closed her eyes, trying to protect herself. When she opened it again, she stood once again in front of the altar. In front of the tiny blue light with this tiny peck of gold, her hand only a few inch from grabbing it.

 

Tears of relieved filled her eyes. She was back! She stepped back, fastly, as if it could swallow her again. Never again.

 

“Please, bring them back to me” She heard, though, once again, pleading.

 

Someone appeared where the shard had been, a silhouette of a stranger. It felt as if she was looking her reflection on a river, except that it reflected someone else face. First, it was a blonde barbarian, for all she could judge by his clothes. He seemed to fight something, something dark and sticky. And it was winning, despite the blonde effort, it covered already half of his body, surrounded his mouth and nose. The teen -because he was young, so young- struggled, again and again, desperately trying to breath...Momo’s heart clenched. The boy disappeared, replaced by another stranger. Again, someone who seemed to be in a middle of a fight, and clearly losing it. Then again, someone else, this time lying on the ground, trying to reach something yet, gritting their teeth, and again and again…

 

Momo tried her best to remember each face, to analyze their outfits in order to recognize their culture, would she ever encounter it. But it was too fast. There was so many people!

 

_So many people._

 

Despite the urgency, she couldn’t help but be happy at the very proof. Some people had survived! Yes they were in trouble, yes they were fighting, but they were alive. Out this plateau, people had survived the calamity.

 

_And i will find them. I will reach them._

 

And suddenly, her heart stopped. Before her very eyes, she saw a man.

 

White and red hair, eyes closed, wearing royal clothes, one half of his body covered by black ice. By all mean, he looked a lot like those before him, almost dead, and eaten away by something evil. But somehow he felt different. He felt special to Momo.   

 

Something, something screamed inside her. Something that sounded like the owner of the voice.

 

Without realizing, Momo strenched her hand to him, her fingers almost reaching his. She noticed the soft glow on his palm, a triangle tattoo, like the kid in the painting.

 

 _That’s it. That’s the kid in the painting!_ She realized, as she saw the other tattoo, in his hand recovered by ice.

 

And he stood right before her, only a inch away. But Momo knew better than to make that step forward, to be stuck the white field, once again. So instead she stared at the man in front of her, in his regal sleep. He looked almost dead. So much that it was unsettling. People before him struggled. They fought, they felt very much alive. But this one...

 

“Open your eyes...”

 

 _Please._ She didn’t want him to be dead. Even if it sounded stupid, even if she had only saw him on painting, she felt like she knew him. It was someone with a familiar face. As simply as that, someone she knew better than she knew herself.

 

“Please...open your eyes…”

 

***

 

_Open your eyes._

 

He had dreamed of her. It wasn’t the first time. He hanged to this dream as much as he could, in his slumber. She was a pleasant dream, full of hope and light, she helped him forget the reality. Forget that he lost. Forget that everyone was dead. His family. His friends. His love. Forget. So he clinged to it. Everytime he opened his eyes and woke up, he closed it back and turned, returning in her embrace as fast as he could, saving his strength. That’s how he kept up. How he managed to go through everything. But this time...This time he heard her. How weird, usually it was he, that called her out, trying to wake her up.

 

_Please...open your eyes…_

 

He didn’t want to. But he trusted her. If she asked him to open his eyes, that meant that she had a plan. That meant that she was back. That she was there. That, somehow, there was hope again. That she was alive.

 

_Momo..._

 

So he opened his eyes. Half expecting to see her face, to find her smiling at him, tears in her eyes, joy in her lips, surrounded by nothing but happiness and people he thought he had lost forever. But there was no one, no warm, only coldness.

 

_Ah._

 

That’s because half of his body was covered by ice.

 

He gazed at his body, numbed by pain and his slumber. Right next to him, Momo wasn’t there, but a giant pumping heart started to beat, breaking, slowly but surely, breaking the ice coffin he had barely managed to trap him into.

 

_All for one._

 

The thing opened its eyes. And in its bloody pupil; all there was was death, and destruction. An overwhelming aura that caught him off guard and left him awake, and afraid.

 

He needed to get away. He needed to get away from this now! Or else, he would be…

 

He looked around, trying to see what. He couldn’t remember, his memory was fuzzy.  His movement were slow. Half of his arms was entrapped in the very same ice he had sealed his enemy off and...When he tried to stand up it felt like his whole body was torn apart. He screamed : but his voice felt so weak, he barely heard it.

 

The eyes saw it pain, and somehow, it laughed. How it could with no lips and face, he didn’t know, but it felt like this. The thing saw him, and his effort, and he was amused by it. Like a cat seeing a mouse that couldn’t run, that knew he would soon enough, catch it and eat it. Slowly, it looked at the ice connecting them, and some fluid, an awfully black color started to spread.

 

Coming closer and closer from its prey.

 

“You can’t escape me, Zelda” a voice whispered, victorious.

“My name is Shouto!”

 

Fear could always make one stronger, anger could make one fight till the end. Shouto felt both. And so he fought, and fought, and despite the pain he was feeling, he dragged his body out of the seal.

 

Just in time, when the black hands of the calamity brushed his finger, the ice broke, and he got free.

 

Shouto stumbled, and fell, hard, on the ground. For a moment the pain was so intense that all he could think off was to curl and bit his lips. But he couldn’t afford it. The calamity laughed, and laughed.

 

“You can run! You can run but i will find you! I will get out of there too and i-”

 

Get out of there. Destroy everything. Kill everyone. Again.

 

“No you won’t!”

 

Shouto screamed, and let out his power go wild. What used to be the throne room got silent, totally encasted in a black ice, the giant evil heart of the calamity trapped within, reduced to silent.

 

But for how long? Shouto doubted, now that he was awake and conscious, his power would not be as strong as before. Until now he had kept his conscious awake to the bare minimum, in order to keep fighting, in order to save energy, in order to wait for it to end. He had expected to die with the calamity. _Why am i even up?_

 

He had heard a voice. The voice of someone he held dear, the voice of someone he trusted would come back, and defeat the calamity, succeed where he had failed.

 

_If she’s here...If she’s awake…If she called me..._

 

Shouto needed to go back to her.

 

And so he stood. The world rolling all around him, the ground shaking under his feets. He couldn’t recognize anything.

 

Pain ran through his arm, something was wrong with it, it was still covered by the black ice, he couldn’t get it off. Something...All for one must had done something! He had let himself be corrupted, he had made yet another mistake.

 

Names of his mistake came to his fuzzed mind, as clear as the day when nothing was.

 

_Mom! Natsuo! Fuyumi!_

 

He ran. There must had been somewhere within the castle. But somehow, the place was weird. Monsters still frozen in ice, stopped in time. Sometimes rooms destroyed by century of solitude, sometimes as neat as they were when he was young. Time...Time was messed up. Hiccuping from place to place. And amid of this chaos, here he was.

 

Shouto tried his best to avoid the monsters who were awake and moving, guardians who were still beeping, but the nausea got him good. He was lost. Lost in own mind, in his owns castle, unable to recognize the path that lead to the his mother’s tower.

 

_She had to be there! She had to be…_

 

He opened a door, and a gush of air hit his face. The scent of ashes, when there was no fire, of dust, when they were outside, the scent of loss...When he finally see the familiar structure, right across a fragile bridge. The structure was still hanging, barely holding it and only supported by a column of black ice. She had to be there! He remembered...He remembered people running through the hallway, calling their names.

 

“Fuyumi! Natsuo ! Mother!”

 

He heard a song, a string of cello, strong and weak at the same time. It was not his mother’s voice that answered. The wind turned cold, still carrying the scent of the fire, and a pung of pain put Shouto on his knee. The tower crawled. The column of ice opened it eyes. Several, awful eyes. The same as the calamity.

 

A dragon. The dragon of ice, was lovingly hugging the tower in his sleep. But now he was awake. And he saw Shouto. He growled, his long claws digging inside the stone of the building.

 

The dragon was possessed by the calamity; the evil ice and eyes covering his body as the evident proof. The same as the one devouring half of his body. It felt like facing its own future, its own demise.

 

“Natsuo…”

 

Shouto stared at the tower, so close yet so far, as the dragon roared. He had no energy left. His head was fuzzy with memories, he couldn’t concentrate. Was it really where all his choices lead him? Did he made a mistake?

 

_Yes. Yes i did._

 

Of course. He did. he knew that when he faced the calamity on his own. He knew that when he watched the whole kingdom burn. He learned it, when he saw his friends die.

 

When he saw her die.

 

Suddenly, Shouto, even though he had just woken up, felt very tired. And he stared at the dragon in front of him, knowing that he would understand. After all, they were brothers, he thought, as a pang of pain ran through his arm.

 

The dragon reacted to his words, and he roared angrily, stumping from his nest of one hundred years to plunge on his prey. Shouto barely felt its claws as it dig into his flesh. But he sure felt his feet leave the ground, as the dragon took him far and wide, in the sky going past the castle, above the ruins of hyrule, of the town, mixing with the darks clouds and storm.

 

Maybe getting away from it what what he truly needed to step out of this mood. But as soon as they got away from the suffocating presence of All for One, Shouto felt his will coming back. How ironic, as he could witness here all the consequences of his mistakes : the world he hold dear laying into nothing but ruins to his very feets.

 

_Use your flames! Fight!_

 

He thought of his father, as flames rose up from his body and burned the dragon. It yelped, and let go of its prey, and Shouto fell himself fall and fall, all over again.

 

 _Fight!_ Someone had said in the past.

 

_Even if he was tired. Even if he was wrong. Even if everything was his fault._

 

“I will come back for you!” He screamed to the dragon, to his mother in the tower, to the kingdom, to the voices, to anyone who could hear him. To the woman who woke him up.  

 

And this time, he would make this right, this time their plan would work, because this time, he would listen to what other said, he decided, as he faced the ground approaching, at full speed.

 

_It’s your power!_

 

He activated his flames, and his ice, ignored the pain in his body as he heard this time, not the voice of his friend, but the laugh of the calamity. He didn’t care. He had to make it. He had made a promise.

 

The flame reduced his fall, and he made an ice ramp with all he had left, managing barely to end up in the river band. His head hit the water, and he lost his breath, barely able to get out and swim to the nearest thing in his vision field...A broken log still floating somehow.

 

_I made it…_

 

He looked at the castle, as the river drifted him away, making it tinier and tiner each passing second. The white dragon was becoming one with the storm surrounding it, screaming.

 

_I made it…_

 

And as if the effort was too great, too much, as if he deserved the right to let go, he lost consciousness.

 

 _I wonder..._ he thought, as his conscious became to go adrift. _Will you be the one to wake me up again?_

 

He had missed her voice.

  



	8. Memory - Father and Son

As Shouto let himself be drifted away by the river, his mind swam back against the flow of time. Returning to that place, to that castle, to that bridge, where he had left his family. 

 

It was funny, sometimes, how memory worked. He had stepped on this very bridge, inside the castle, countless and countless of times but all he could remember in his guilt was this day…

 

Once upon a time he had been scared to even look at this lonely tower, where his mother had been locked away for so long. As if the tower was the incarnation of his mother itself, and that Shouto, looking at her, would put her in such a distress again that it would crumble and break, for good this time.

 

Last time he had seen here, was when he was only four, as she turned her face to him and poured her boiling water for tea on his face, madness and despair twisting her soft features. It was the last image Shouto had from her, the last memory he had for the longest time, not remembering any of her smile, or the way her eyes softened up, or even the sweetness of her voice. Now, all he had for years had been this last gaze, full of blinded hatred. And he was so afraid that it was all she had to offer him, that it would stay that way forever.

 

After all, he still looked like his father. Why would his mother’s gaze change? Why would seeing her son would put her in nothing but disarray?

 

The tournament, and his fight with Izuku, had changed everything. It made him doubt, made him remember that, in the past, his mother was not reduced to a a weeping woman, beaten by her husband and used till she was no good anymore, as he thought. She had been kind and sweet and understanding with her children, even with him. Somehow, these happy memories had been drowned under all her misery and the last image he had of her, and he couldn’t recall what she looked like when she smiled at him. But he knew she could, in the past, and so it gave him hope, that maybe, she would do it again.

 

He remembered...he remembered the first time he stepped on the bridge, with the will to actually go through it, knock on the door and meet his mom for the very first time in years. Decided to finally know, to finally see, to either open a new path, or close this door for good. If his mother loved him, and wanted him by his side ; then he would stay. If she didn’t want him, and simply seeing him was too hard for her ; then he would go.

 

How scared he had been, that day! Almost as scared as he had been now, in the middle of the fallen castle, seeing destruction and past coexist, fighting against each other, in the same chao, knowing that his mother was still there, in her lonely tower.

 

Back then, Momo...No She was still _Yaoyorozu..._ Stood behind her back, silent, as she had been since the tournament. Waiting for him to take his decision, staring at him as he was unable to decide if he actually wanted to go, and if he didn’t. There was no judgement in her eyes, she just waited, as if she knew he would ultimately choose the right one.

 

She didn’t accompany him; when he did choose, when he did go, knowing full well that it wasn’t her place. He respected her, for that.

 

And when Shouto came back, his head full of his apologetic, yet smiling mother, Momo was still there. The world hadn’t changed, despite that Shouto’s world drastically got lighter and better. It felt like the weight of the sadness had been taken off his shoulder and that everything had turned colorful, peaceful. The shadow of All for one was far away from his mind, from this very shiny day. Far away from him.

 

Yaoyorozu had smile at him, guessing from his feature that the meeting had gone well, and he saw how her tensed body relaxed. She allowed her shoulder to drop, and step out of the soldier pause, putting the master sword back to its sheath.  

 

She didn’t ask any question. How did it go? How do you feel? And he didn’t expect her to do so. He didn’t want her to do so. he wanted to keep this meeting with his mother to himself a little bit longer. So instead, he came closer to the fence of the bridge, and stared at the garden underneath. Momo found her place right besides him, silent witness of everything he saw.

 

Soldiers were trying to make an old guardian obey. Hatsume Mei standing on the top, laughing about her amazing babies, and giving off instructions to them.

 

-Yes! Don’t worry as long as it doesn’t start staring at you and beeping it means he considers you as an ally!

-Still not very comforting! Said Tensei Iida, in his knight outfit and his new champion’s cape tight around his waist. The zora held a protective hand over his side, to shield his younger, tiny aby brother from the robot. -How do you know it won’t zap us out of the blue?

-Oooh! Zap! I like the sound of that!

-ZAP! Repeated Tenya, pointing the robot with his finger, as if he was trying to provoke it.

-That’s exactly it tiny Nyah! ZAP! ZAP!

-Don’t encourage-

 

The guardian started to beep and without a warning a laser beam spurted out of his very eye, hitting one of the surrounding tree.

 

-Bad guardian! BAD! Villain! Screamed Tenya, indignied in his big borther’s arms. Luckily the knight had good reflex and had pulled him -and Mei, and every soldier around- into safety, behind a wall. Shouto didn’t even see him move. The man was really too fast fr the eyes to follow. His quirk was awesome.

 

-How is that BAD? DID you SEE THAT? It listened to our order! GOOD ROBOT : ZAP GUARDIAN! ZAP!

 

The guardian, confused, beeped again, much to everyone’s fear (but Mei Hatsume) and everyone hid behind a wall. This is from her spot, that the mad scientist Sheikah noticed Shouto.

 

-Did you see that princess? Isn’t it awesome, if this continue we will be ready to fight All for One with these babies!

 

The guardian put another tree on fire.

 

Shouto had given up making her call prince.

 

-If All for one takes the form of a tree, he stands no chance at all, he answered with one of his rare smile.

-Is that a joke i heard from you, your highness? Blinked Tensei, staring at him as if he suddenly grew a second head.

-Joke Shouto Bad! Bad! Repeated Tenya, pointing his finger to the crowned prince, this time, very seriously. Yet again the baby was always serious.

 

It was very encouraging, still, thought Shouto, as he stared at the guardian. Maybe it was only a trick of his mind, or a side effect of his good mood, but he started to actually believe they could make it. He felt hope instead of cold anger, and it felt good.

 

-At this rate, he said, we will be able to control guardians, and maybe even divine beasts.

 

He stared at the master sword, hanging at Yaoyorozu’s belt.

 

-We won’t have to rely on old tales anymore. We will fight him fair and square, without the help of the gods, and defeat him for good.

 

She smiled at him, a bit uncertain, as her finger brushed the weapon. Maybe he had said something rude, Shouto realized. After all she had spent countless of hours examining the remaining half of the real master sword, learned everything she could from it, before managing to re-create this one. He was about to turn and assure her that he didn’t mean to throw away her work when…

 

-What are you doing out there, Zelda?

 

His father’s voice brought back the anger he thought he had left behind.

 

-My name is Shouto, he said, his jaw clenched.

 

His father, king Endeavor, scoffed, disregarding this comment as if it was a kid’s whim. Behind him, he felt Yaoyorozu kneel in front of her king. He couldn’t bring himself to do the same and stared right back at the man he most hated in the world. The very same one who pushed his mother to insanity, the one who pushed everything he judged as weak, even his own children, in the name of power. The tattoo on his right hand, the divine triangle of power faintly glowing, Shouto hated it, as he got it from this man.

 

-Hyrule History will not care about your name, only your title.

 

He was no one, except his title of princess, in his father’s eyes. As much as his mother had only been a convenient way to get babies that would wield the triforce of wisdom and strength. The perfect mix of the Gerudo’s tribe he was the king of, and the royal family of Hyrule.

 

Endeavor, in front of the silence of his rebellious kin, sighed and stared at the lonely tower, on the other side of the bridge. Anger never left his features, but sometimes, Shouto could swear it was worst. It was one of those days.

 

Even though, Endeavor never crossed the bridge either, after he locked his wife away -for her own good. He simply didn’t need her anymore, and so didn’t visit, but, maybe because he was afraid of what people would say, he never forbid his kids to see their mother. He couldn’t make a scene because Shouto went to visit her.

 

So he, found something else, and turned his anger toward a more precise, actual problem.

 

-I see you are still clinging to this stupid hope of vanquishing All for one with those fake...

 

Yaoyorozu closed her eyes, waiting for the hit and  Shouto’s anger rose from hell:

 

-The civilization 10 000 years ago was the only one that managed to ban the calamity for so long! It’s normal, to rely on it, they got you farther than the god’s power ever did! Her researches shows that-

-I know that, Endeavor cut him. -Despite what i feel about them, i know they are essential to Hyrule’s future and protection, when, as foretold by Sir Nighteyes, All for one appears again.

 

He gazed at the master sword Yaoyorozu held, and resumed, his tone full of condescendance, as if he knew everything.

 

-And despite our best effort, we still didn’t find the lost half of the true master sword, her reproduction is our best bet again the calamity. But she has done her part, and lost the tournament, she should be giving this sword to Sir Katsuki, the one who deserves the title of Link!

 

Shouto clenched his fist, seeing red. How dare he, again, use someone and disregard them as soon as they weren’t useful to him?

 

-She is-

-And you, you are the princess Zelda ; your part is not done yet. So why do i find you wandering here? Wasting time playing with toys and outdated knights? Engaging into the tournament only to lose because you didn’t want to use your fire? Do you think All for one will let you live? Do you think you can defeat him with robots and fake champions?hen will you stop to treat this as some sort of childish game? This is not about your rebellion against me! This is a war! And you’re supposed to be our trump card!

-I am not wasting my time! Answered Shouto. -Researching about the past, and how they defeated All for One with the divine beast, with guardian, this will be helpful for the upcoming war! Just as much as Yaoyorozu wi-

-But this is not your part of the job! Screamed Enji. -You are supposed to pray for the god’s blessing and train your power! Both of it! You are the strongest Zelda we have seen in decades, -thanks to me!-, why don’t you use it? You need to dedicate every once of your time to your training!

 

He opened his arm and flames surged from all around, making people in the garden underneath yelp. Shouto barely registered that, if they saw that, they had probably heard everything else, witnessing him being scolded like a kid.

 

-Do you think i got this strong with my quirk naturally? No! I pushed myself day after day, trained as hard as i could..

-And yet, you still couldn’t do a single scratch to All for One when he arrives, leaving all the work to All Might. So why should i train?

 

Silence. For a moment, Shouto was sure that his father, the king, would forget himself and hit him. Just like he hit his mother when he was young when she tried to put some sense into his head. But no. He would probably keep that frustration to let it unleash the next time they had their father-and-son-duty-training. Instead he took a deep breath and his flames died off:

 

-Because i had not your power to seal the evil, like your mother had. You must be single-minded about mastering my power and her wisdom in order.

-Wisdom? She lost it the day she married you!

-She had more wisdom in her pinky that you ever had in your entire life, you fool! At least she knew how to forget herself to accomplish her duty as a queen! She knew what was best for her kingdom! You are leading our to ruins with your rebellious phase! Stop running away from your duty!

 

Shouto spatting, full of his new found confidence :

 

-We will see about that.

 

They saw now. One hundred years later, he knew. Shouto had been wrong and Endeavor had been right. It hurt, mostly because he couldn't accept that all his father did had ever been right, not even his words. But because of Shouto's foolish behavior, everything they tried to protect, everything he loved, was lost. Once upon a time, this knowledge would have put Shouto on edge, this loss against his father would have meant everything. But in comparison to all the suffering and the tragedy that happened, it indeed looked foolish. Unimportant. Like a child’s whim. 

 

-Do you know, what people say behind your back, said the Endeavor from his memory, as he stared at the garden and the soldier underneath. -Do you know what your so called friends think of you? You know what they are whispering of this very moment?

 

Shouto remembered doubt, crawling under his skin, as Mei and Tensei looked away, avoiding the prince’s gaze, guilty.

 

-That you, are the heir to a throne of nothing. Nothing but failure. That if you aren’t Zelda, then you might as well be the next incarnation of All for one, as your foolishness will only cause our doom.

 

And even if Shouto had wanted to ignore those words, to think nothing of them but another one of his father’s stupid beliefs, he couldn’t help but hear it. He couldn’t help but feel it, deep inside its bones. Anger instead of Sadness, Power instead of wisdom, running through his vein and laughing at him.

 

-It is woven to your destiny to prove them wrong, just like i did with those who called me the new Ganondorf. Do you understand?

-Yes, i understand, he had said, looking at the ground angrily, his voice shaking with both sadness and anger.

 

But he did not. Because he knew he wasn't Zelda, and he wasn't Ganondorf, he was not the masterpiece of his father and the cause of his mother misery. He was Shouto. And he didn't want to be anything else. 

 

The king fell for the trap, and turned his back to him, without even a glance at the tower where he locked his wife away. Ignoring all that didn’t matter to him, as always. He had done his part, he had done his fatherly talk and knocked some sense to his rebellious teen, or so he thought, as he walked away.

 

All the light he had faded out of the world, and color had disappeared, along with his good mood. Suddenly, the castle was back to what he always had been, grey and dull, like a prison. Guilty silent around him seemed to confirm his greatest fear. That his friends, his champions, did think that way. Just like History, they saw nothing but Zelda, and not Shouto. No one wanted or needed Shouto when they could have the princess with divine bloodline instead. 

 

-For what it is worth, suddenly whispered a voice, behind his back. A voice he hadn’t heard since the tournament, since Momo Yaoyorozu’s defeat.-I think you’re great.

 

She didn’t know how much he had needed that. The respect he saw in her eyes, without a shadow of doubt about his plan, about his ability, was all he needed.

 

-And i think he answered, his voice tight with emotions, that you are a magnificent Link, far more suited to wield your master sword than Bakugou.

 

She sadly smiled at him, and it felt like the world had found its sun once again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first memory of the game. (For those who don't know, the game have 13 memory + 5 memory dlc, you can collect throughout the land to learn more about what happened 100 years ago) They won't always be as close to the game dialogue as this one, though, I may change and add some. And it will not always be Shouto who remembers this. I hope you'll still find it interesting ^^
> 
> I will try to publish a chapter every two week and Saturday from now one ^^ It is a little short but I got a lot of work this week so I couldn't afford to go into a big chapter. I hope the amount of informations you get about the universe will make up for its shortness U-U Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it =D


	9. Great Plateau : The weight of the past mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took me so long >< I had a first draft of the chapter on time but I really didn't like it so I bothered a great friend of mine so she could read it and help me with her advices / opinion on it and re-did it many time before it satisfied me. In the end it still doesn't. (because we're still on the damn Plateau I want to get AWAY and LEAVE this place already xD)
> 
> But is till hope you'll like this chapter. =)  
> I can't wait to play Breath of the wild 2! Im' super hyped. I hope I will mange to finish this pic before it actually comes out though...

What Momo finally got teleported back at the entrance of the shrine, what she found could only described with one word : devastation. She had expected, even as tired as she was, as she stepped out the shrine, to be attacked by the guardian. But the mechanical beast was no more. There was barely anything left from the castle-turned-museum. Flames had reduced almost everything to ashes. And in the middle of all this destruction Enji was laid on the ground.  

 

And despite her anger for throwing her inside the shrine, for lying to her, Momo couldn’t help but feel scared and worried. 

 

_ Please! Please don’t be dead!  _

 

She could still remember his words,  _ no one truly dies on the great plateau _ , but she didn’t want to find out what he had meant by that. She had still so many questions to ask him. She wanted to tell him what she had learned inside the shrine, share her experiences, talk to him. Scold him for lying, spit the truth out of his mouth. 

 

But as she reached him, she saw the wound on his chest, the blood on his face and clothes. With shaking hands, she tried to feel his pulse. She found none. 

 

_ No… _

 

She let out a sob, putting both of her hands on her mouth to swallow it back. She had been too slow, she came back too late! 

 

_ How late am i even?  _ She realized, as she stared at the destruction around. Enough time had passed for the fire to die off, and for the blood to dry; even the wind didn’t bring any warmth anymore, it was cold. Or maybe she felt cold. Cold and powerless. Cold and weak. Cold and alone. 

 

_ I can’t stay here. _

The thought surprised her, as she stared at the corpse of hermit who had taken her under her wings. She didn’t want to let him there.  _ To rot.  _ She needed to bury him at least. But she was tired and hungry and angry. She wanted nothing more than lay down and sleep until this awful feeling passed and hope that she would awaken once again, as if everything until now had been a nightmare. Yet she couldn’t help but think, rationalize. 

 

_ The guardian is going to be brought back to life.  _

 

Just like the others monsters.  _ no one truly dies on the great plateau.  _ If only it could be said the same for them, and not just monsters! 

 

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought. What if? She stared at Enji’s corpse once again. What if that was what he meant?  _ But then why would he try to put me into safety, if this were the case?  _ If death wasn’t a threat here, he wouldn’t have to worry about her life. Yet he still did. 

 

_ You’re not making senses, you’re just in the deny state of grief. You… _

 

But what if? What if it was a possibility? She touched her scar on her torso and didn’t find the force to throw away her hope. She had to try. At least, she owned him to try! And if she was in deny, then she would have hope for a little bit of more time. She pushed back her fear in the back of her mind and focused on the reality : what she needed to do right now. 

 

_ I have to get away.  _

 

She knew that much. She couldn’t fight this in her current state. If the guardian was going to raise up from the dead, she didn’t want to fight one again, ever. So she needed to go before it came back. And she needed to bring Enji back with her. 

 

_ If he’s going to come back, i don’t want him to die off again fighting against this monster.  _

 

And if he didn’t...She just wanted him to give a proper burial. It hurt too much to think about him, rotting there, in the middle of nowhere. All alone. He had his flaws, he was impatient, rash, brutal, but he had been there when she had no one, when she needed help. Even if she was angry at him right now for many reasons, she wasn’t so angry she would let him suffer. 

 

No one deserved that end, even if he had lied, and been a moody mentor. 

 

So, Momo, despite her exhaustion, dragged the man down. He was way taller than her and weighted like ton, but she bit her lips and forced herself to do it. Bit by bit, step by step. 

 

The sound of the death, the ground that cried at she dragged a body on it, the wrinkling grass, and the echo of her own effort had became unbearable. It seemed to whisper to her ears :  _ this is all your fault, if only you hadn’t ventured into the museum, he would still be alive. _ And she couldn’t find any argument against it. She was to blame, yet Enji had to pay the price for her mistakes. It wasn’t fair and there was nothing she could do to fix that.  _ Please, let him come back.  _ She tried to force herself to think of his words :  _ no one truly dies in the Great Plateau,  _ each time grief fogged her mind. She prayed for it to be true. She wished. She hoped. She lied. She tried. She failed. 

 

It hurt. It hurt so much more than her tired body as she dragged someone twice bigger than her for who know how long. Even as she reached the cabin, and finally reached her goal, found the time to rest...It still hurt.

 

She was scared it would always hurt. 

 

***

Momo didn’t find the courage to bury Enji. _What if i’m right? What if he comes back to life?_ Maybe it was a lie, a way to postpone what she hadn’t the gut to do, but she hung to it. So as soon as she had reached the cabin, she had eaten, and tried to sleep, but of course, sleep avoided her. _For how long should i wait, to know if my theory is right or wrong?_ After all there was little ways to evaluate time without day and night, even less if she didn’t manage to sleep. She could probably spy the guardian, from distance, if he came back again, and Enji didn’t then that meant… _That you’ll have to bury him._ Since she couldn’t control her brain and her emotions, not able to stop from blaming herself, over and over again, she tried something else. 

 

If she was forced to think about it, she would at least try to be smart and make use of these thoughts. She could try to put everything she had learned in order, recap what she had done wrong and learn from her mistakes. It wasn’t much, it wasn’t nearly enough to atone for it, but it was at least something she could do to feel less miserable. So, she went out of her bed, and started to make a mess in the cabin, looking for something to write one. Something to do.

 

-I found out what happened 10 000 years ago! She whispered, her own voice sounding awfully fake, to Enji.

 

The corpse didn’t answer of course. She had pushed it to the back of the cabin and had recovered him with a blanket. It was almost as if he were sleeping. But she hadn’t seen him sleep before. Or eat. Even when he was still alive. 

 

Yet she needed to talk, she needed to hear it, she needed to feel less alone in this mess. She needed to organize her thoughts, and somehow speaking to someone forced her to clarify it so much that it made sense when she heard it. More than in the secrecy of her mind. And so she told Enji about what she had discovered inside this temple. The triforce of power. The truth about the war 10 000 ago. How quirks came to existence. 

 

Of course he didn’t answer. He would never. But she continued ; 

 

-According to the shard there are still people alive. I saw their faces. 

 

She needed to draw those, she realized, before she forgot. If she ever forgot again. And so she untidied the cabin, trying to find back the notebook she had saw before.

 

-There was a boy, around my age...WIth blonde hair and an angry look...He looked like he was fighting something. 

 

And the boy. The boy from the painting. When she called him, he had opened his eyes and it awakened something, deep, inside her chest. But before she could name it the image had vanished. She had found herself teleported out of the shrine. 

 

The boy seemed so sad...Just like the owner of the voice. Why did they all looked in pain and sad, here? 

 

She discovered, quite sadly, that she had no talent for drawing, as she tried to put it down on the paper with a bit of charcoal left from the fire. Her portrait was nowhere near close to the boy. He had looked so much more handsome. So much younger. And why the boy even alive? 

 

It didn’t make sense either : the painting was at least 100 hundred years ago, from before the calamity, as Enji had explained. So either people could live longer than 100 years old or Enji had lied to her, again. But the owner of the voice had said her slumber lasted for 100 years too.  _ How funny.  _ Despite the fact that it made no sense for people to live this long in her mind, she was still more inclined to trust her liar of a mentor and her hallucination. But, after all, what told her that 100 years old was the limit, here? Her memory : she could not very much trust it. Yet, it still bothered her. 

 

If People could live longer than 100 years... Her eyes fell on Enji. 

 

Until now, she hadn’t thought about him much, about his past, about the family he had obviously lost. What had lead him to live here, alone rather than with them.  _ And maybe you’ll never know, now... _ She shook her head, and focused on her theory rather than the sadness. 

 

He had outdated informations about the area, yet seemed to know so much about the calamity that had destroyed the kingdom. He stared at the statue of the All mighty hero as if he had personal grudge against him, as if he had lived the tragedy his failure had caused... 

 

Maybe, just maybe...he was just like the boy in the shrine ; one hundred years old. After all, he was stuck in a place with no time.  _ Maybe that is what he meant by no one truly dies on the Great Plateau, and not that he will come back to life. Maybe you’re wrong! _

 

Momo closed her eyes shut and tried to cover the sound of her guilt in her head, to drown in with theories. 

If that was the case, maybe the boy she saw in the shrine was also in a place that “held” his time. Maybe that was why he lived so long! That was just a theory -a crazy theory- but she liked it. It gave her hope that other people survived, people of her time, people who knew her, people she once loved and could tell her who she had been. 

 

-If you ever wake up, she told to Enji, you’ll have to answer me this time. 

 

Since she couldn’t rely on her art skill, she noted everything down. Her mad theories but also advices and instructions. “Don’t forget” “You have to look for these people and bring them back to the shrine””Beware of the guardian they are alive!” “It’s dangerous to go alone, take a sword with you and a shield!”...

 

Then, after an hesitation, she added: 

 

”Follow the voice in your head”

 

She hadn’t thought of him in a while. She hadn’t...think of what he was. She tried to persuade herself that it was just an hallucination, at first, then a real person, who needed saving, who needed him, a goal to keep moving at the very least. She had thought of his pain, and what he meant to her, but never who he was. 

 

_ My light, just like i’m his light.  _

 

Yet, it wasn’t enough : the voice, if it was real, had to be something else, something beyond what she felt for him. Something entirely his. And she didn’t know what. She hadn’t even tried to think about it. Now...Now she thought. 

 

A voice, calling for his help, that came from the castle shrouded in darkness. She immediately could guess three outcomes. If she had given more time maybe she could think of more, but for now she started writing it down. 

 

The first one ; some innocent that survived the calamity in some sort of place that had no time, and had a telepathy quirk. She didn’t know if it existed, but hey, she could create stuff from her own body, so why not? 

 

The second one weighed on her soul and mood ; she didn’t want that to happen but she had to at least consider it. It was the calamity trying to lure her into a trap. Why would the calamity care enough for her, though? It helped Momo dismiss this theory ; she was no one, even to herself, the great evil had surely better things to do than lure and kill some random stranger as soon as they woke up. 

 

The third theory…

 

The third theory was frightening. In Enji’s stories, and the ones from the shard’s, only two people could held the calamity. Zelda or Link. Since the voice was the one of the man, she could conclude that it was Link, but Enji had said that the divine power didn’t care about gender. So it could be the other too. But still, it meant that the voice was one of the hero whose fate was to save the world. And somehow, Momo was their light, their only hope? Just as the second theory it sounded crazy, impossible. 

 

She was not that important, she repeated to herself, as she lookedat Enji.  _ I’m not that strong, i let him die!  _

 

Yet, she couldn’t forget the fact that, somehow, she had been important enough to be brought to the shrine she awoke, after her death. That…

 

_ Wait.  _

 

Could this be the answer? What Enji meant when he said “ _ No one truly dies in the Great Plateau”  _ ? What was the name of the shrine she woke up?

 

When she looked at the sheikah plate, trying to get back on the map app, she didn’t find the encyclopedia anymore ; as if it was only accessible when you were on a trial. She noted that down again and promised herself to memorize as much as she could from it next time. 

 

if there was ever a next time. 

 

She didn’t want to ever go back inside those strange building, and be trapped inside this blank space but...What else could she do? She couldn’t fly like Enji with her power, maybe she could create some rope and climb back the plateau. But what about the other shrines? 

 

She couldn’t leave this like this, right? Enji had said that there was a clue to defeat the Calamity here. If she couldn’t defeat it, she couldn’t save the owner of the voice. He would die too. The hero or Zelda would die. The world would be destroyed.

 

She looked at Enji, feeling helpless again.  _ What should i do?  _

 

She found the map screen and Momo stopped and stared at the sheikah plate, her hands shaking. The place she woke up, was called “the shrine of resurrection” Instinctively she touched her chest, where she knew the scar barring it by heart now. And she looked down to Enji once again. 

 

-Is it where i should bury you? She heard herself whisper. 

 

Was that what had happened to her? Did she somehow lost her life in this place, and…She recalled what Enji said about the person with the same power as her, he had met a long time ago. What if it had been her? 

 

But Momo shook her head ; now she really sounded crazy. 

 

_ But if i’m right?  _

 

If she was right, then putting Enji inside this shrine would probably the same effect on him that she had on her. Would he sleep for 100 years straight?  _ There’s no time in the Great plateau, maybe, but there is one outside of it, and it passes,  _ she supposed, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to count it _.  _ Would he lose his memory? Then she would never know the truth.  _ Is it right of me, to make him go through this?  _

 

Maybe he didn’t want that. She sure wouldn’t wish this fate to anyone. What if he didn’t want to be brought back? She wished she had asked him before hand, if he was happy, if he was happy living. 

 

But she didn’t. She hadn’t care. She just had wanted answer. She had been selfish. And maybe, if she tried this, she would be selfish again. 

 

But she had to try. After all, she only had one case to study ; her own, that was not fact and was not proven. As the saying said : once was accident, two was coincidences, three was a pattern. She didn’t even gathered all the variants and what had happened, maybe something had been wrong during her healing process. Maybe it wouldn’t happen again. She had to fix this, somehow. Despite her wobbly legs, she found the strength to stand again, the hope providing her the energy she lacked. She needed to clear the path before : Bokoblin probably came back, since it had been a while. She couldn’t fight them while dragging Enji there. 

 

She was about to create some wood and rope, to build a litter, when she heard a grumpy voice:

 

-Why are you making such a long face?

 

She dropped everything and turned around, unable to breath. 

 

Enji was frowning at her, as if he had just been napping all this time. 

 

-I thought you were dead...She whispered, her words stuck inside her throat. 

 

She had been right. She had been right for the first time, she had done well to bring him back here despite her tired state, despite her reason despite everything.  _ I’ve done right! _ Momo felt like crying, relief pouring over the grief she had been trying so hard to swallow. 

 

-I was, simply answered Enji, as he sit back, visibly better even though she had done nothing to treat his wound. As if it was the most natural thing in the world. -Didn’t i tell you? No one truly dies in the great Plateau. 

 

The words made her choke on her breath and hiss in pain ; yes, he did say that. 

 

It was so stupid. Everything was so stupid. Enji was stupid for throwing off this truth and expect her to actually believe it and takes it literally. It was stupid of her to not even think about this possibility at first. Then praying for it to be true and hanging up to this hope. And most of all, this whole place was so stupid and messed up! But for once, she didn’t care. All that matter, right now…

 

_ He’s alive… _

 

-I’m so glad you’re alive…

 

All her adrenaline dropped down, and she suddenly realized how tired, sad, stressed all at once she had been. The weakness got to her leg and she sat on the bed frames, unable to stand anymore, overcame with relief. 

 

Enji, taken aback by her word, stared at her as if she was the one who had came back from the dead. And, then slowly, but surely, his lips curled into a smile and he said, with a soft voice:

 

-I’m glad you’re alive too. 

 

But Momo didn’t hear that, he realized, she had fallen asleep, finally surrendering to her fatigue.  

 

***

 

-Did you drew this?

 

Momo looked at Enji, as she was putting on one warm doublet. The hermit had given this to her, saying she would need it. She didn’t know what were his plans, as he barely reacted more than when he was dead, when she told him everything she discovered in the shrine. Even after a few hours of sleep, her head clearer than ever and her body better, she still couldn’t quite figure out what was on his mind. He seemed more interested by her doodles than the revelation about quirks and shards and triforce.  

 

-I know this is crappy, she apologized. -But i had to find a way to make sure to remember their faces. 

-A toddler could draw better, he said.

 

Yet he still took one of the drawing and put it in his pocket. She didn’t say anything because she noticed which one : the boy from the painting. Momo was pretty sure she would recognize the boy without the help of her notes. But why would Enji pick this one in particular, when there was several others lying among it? 

 

Her crazy theories, bornt for her tired and grieving mind, haunted her. She still didn’t take the time to confront him, as he immediately went back in his bossy mentor role when she woke up. But she hadn’t forgotten. 

 

That he lied, nore what she thought she discovered. 

 

-Are you done? Then follow me, said Enji, unaware of her resolve. 

 

Without any further explanation, Enji walked out of the cabin, expecting her to do as he said, as if he hadn’t died the day before and lied. Momo wasn’t going to let it go. Now that she had rested and got over -as much as one could- what happened, she was ready to get the truth: 

 

-You knew what happened to me. 

 

Enji didn’t slow down, and she had to fastened up her pace to reach him again, he avoided her gaze, focused on the mountain they were aiding to. Maybe he was trying to get away, thinking she had no proof, but she had some: 

 

-You said that this guardian had awakened with me, you knew how my power worked, and you knew i had lost my memory.

-I didn’t know you had lost your memory, i guessed.

-But you knew about the rest!

 

Enji stopped, and let out a sigh, visibly annoyed. Good, they were two in that case. She wasn’t letting her anger speak though : she needed answer from him because nothing good would come from secrets. What would he have become, if she hadn’t interpreted well his word, the day before? If she had left his body to rot, along with the guardian? Secrets meants misunderstanding, and misunderstanding meant failure. 

 

She couldn’t afford failure. Not when so much were at stakes. 

 

-I do, Enji finally confessed. 

 

She waited for him to develop; but he didn’t. 

 

-I will tell you everything you need to know, he finally said. -But, not now.

-Why? I can handle it.

-I know you can.

 

That surprised Momo. Honestly, she wasn’t so sure of her statement when it got past her lips. She just assumed that nothing could be worse than what had happened in the shrine. But hearing that Enji had some faith in her mental state was...weird. And a bit worrying, as she nearly felt like going crazy not so long ago. She sure couldn’t say the same. Speaking to corpse -even if it wasn’t a corpse in the end, that hero counted on her, that people could live more than hundred years old, and imagining that she could resurrect people by putting them into a shrine when all she had to do was wait and...

 

_ I’m already crazy at this point.  _

 

-Then why? Why do you wait to tell me?

-Because if i tell you the truth, i have to tell it whole. I have to tell it right. And i don’t want you to hate me.

 

Momo stopped, as Enji continued to walk, not daring to look at her in the eyes. She wanted to say to him that nothing would make her hate him, but she couldn’t lie. She didn’t know what he was hiding, and she didn’t know how much of a forgiving person she was yet. She tried to think of a list of things she would absolutely not forgive…

 

Was he the reason she ended up in that state? Before she would have been furious to learn that, but now that she faced it, now that she hesitated to do the same in front of his corpse...She couldn't. If it had been within her power to bring him back, at the price of his memory...Well she considered the option, and wasn’t sure she would have been strong enough to not do it. In the end he woke up on his own before she could learn that about herself. 

 

What else there was to be angry about?  Killing her parents or family? Momo didn’t remember their faces, and she would be outraged, sure, and sad but...It felt a little bit empty. She felt a little bit empty. Empty of reasons to hate because she had no memory of what she held dear. 

 

-I…

 

She looked at her feet, trying to put into words what she was feeling. 

 

Momo just knew that, right now, Enji was someone she cared for. And so she didn’t want to hate him too. She didn’t want to lose him again. It would be different of course, he would be alive and their separation would be brought by hatred ; and it was certainly better than him being dead. But she couldn’t find any comfort in this option either. Her rational mind knew that one was better than the other, but her heart didn’t seem to agree with it. 

 

-I don’t know what you did in the past, she finally said, I only know the you from now, as i don’t remember the you from before. So when you will tell me, i will take this into account, i promise. 

 

Her words sounded fake, even to her ears. It was hard, to make such a promise when you didn’t know the extent of what wrong had been done. So she added: 

 

-But keeping me in the dark is not helping-

-I made a couple of mistakes in the past. One of the greatest had been to care more about about responsibilities and duty than the people i should have loved and protected. It broke them beyond repair and there’s nothing i can do to atone for this. And i don’t want to do the same with you, again. I know i have to find a way for you to get it, to know the truth but on the other hand i don’t want you to be crushed by it like it did for them. There should be a way to make it better this time, i know there is but i just...

 

Enji’s first clenched. 

 

-I don’t know, he finally confessed. -I didn’t know back then when i didn’t care, and i still don’t know today when i do.

 

Momo was confused, as she could feel his struggle and conflict within him. It wasn’t the first time Enji apologized to her, but it was the first time he openly confessed his powerlessness. and it should have made her feel weak and lost, as he was supposed to be her mentor : the one thing that was stable in her situation. But it didn’t. On the contrary. It made him all the more human to her eyes : he was as lost as she was. He obviously knew his past, yet it didn’t magically make him better at handling the situation. Just like it would probably not do to Momo. 

 

-Thank you, she said, for caring enough about my well-being. Thank you for trying. 

 

She said, sincerely moved. 

 

-But, this is my story. This is my decision. And this is my choice. Not yours.

 

Whether or not it would crush her would depend on her. Enji looked at her, frustrated, and she knew she hadn’t convinced him yet. 

 

-I will tell you, he still promised. -Just give me a little time to find the way to do it right, this time. 

-What if there is none? 

 

She couldn’t wait for ever. That much was sure, she might have no memory of her past, but her future was already full with promises : promise to save the owner of the voice, whoever it was in the end, she cared for him as much as he cared for her, and that was all that mattered. And now she even promised to get back the people blessed by the power shards. She had no past, no identity, but lot of duties already. Maybe that would allow her to learn who she was now. 

 

-Then i will tell you before you leave this Plateau, Enji concluded. 

 

It was better than nothing, Momo supposed. 

 

-Then you’ll have to do it soon, she warned him. -I think i will create a rope and climb it back to the bottom. 

 

For a moment, she expected Enji to shout back, telling her she was rushing up again, acting recklessly. But he didn’t ; instead he smiled and nodded: 

 

-You found a way to use your power your own way. 

-Yes. 

-Good. But before you do that, i want you to enter the remaining shrines there are on this Plateau. 

 

A shiver ran through Momo’s veins. She couldn’t hide her fear as she remembered the trial, the blank space she had found herself trapped. The shard of power had been understanding ; and if her hypothesis were right, each shrine protected a shard of its own. Nothing could assure Momo the other shards would react the same as the first one. Maybe she would end up trapped, for good this time. After all, she hadn’t fulfill any promise yet. Who knows? It could turn her unworthy, unreliable, to the divine artifacts’ eyes. The judging words still rang inside her mind. 

 

-I...I’m not sure it’s a good idea, she said to Enji. 

 

But the man shook his head. 

 

-This is the only clue we have about the divine artefact. 100 years ago, they didn’t have it and that’s why they lost. The triforce and One for All’s will are the only way to defeat All for One. If you don’t find a way to get thoses shards, you’ll never be able to defeat him. 

 

And he pointed the horizon. From where they stood, there was no way to see the castle shrouded in darkness. But Momo knew it was there. 

 

-Use your head, do you see any other way?

-No. 

 

She knew he was right. Her fear told her to go off this plateau, look for the people the shards asked for and sent them in the shrine in her stead, but...What if the shard asked for other people then? What if the shrines contained the shard of wisdom and courage, and trapped those with power blessing? What if they asked for other people?  Besides she could certainly climb down the plateau with a rope, but what about the other way around? Nothing was sure. Even if she could, it would waste time to go back and forth each time. And she didn’t know if she had any. Enji was right, she knew, that didn’t mean she liked it. The logical behaviour was to go and see each shrine, made a list of people required and come back with them once and for all. 

 

-Good, you’re a smart girl, agreed Enji. -So, we’re doing the shrines before you go. 

-And before i go you tell me all you know.

-Yes.

 

It sounded like a pact. Of course Momo was still scared and unsure, but it also gave her some courage. She could do it. She would do it. 

 

But for the first time, she didn’t feel like she didn’t have a choice : she went down to this path willingly. 

 

***

 

It took them a long time, to reach a gigantic gate, at the bottom of a cliff. When the scenery had been green and stuck in a summer time, the place beyond the gate was frozen. Snow shining under the sun’s rays. Momo shivered just standing near it, and she thanked mentally Enji for giving her this warm coat, or she would have died from the cold. 

 

-You should pick some peppers there, and cook something, explained Enji, pointing to a tiny tree covered with red fruits. 

 

As she did, he found a branch on the ground, put some clothes on it and turned it into a torch, lightning it with his power. She decided to stay close to him to get some warmth from the fire. 

 

-Follow me, and beware of the monsters. There are a few around. 

-Is there really a shrine there? She asked. 

-Yes, two. So we better hurry. 

 

_ Two? But there’s also one near the main Tower. That would make four, when there’s only three divine part of the power!  _

 

It didn’t make any sense again, so she grumbled, forced to rethink her theories, and Enji smiled.

 

-Don’t take after me, it doesn’t suit you. 

 

Momo was past the point of caring about what suit her and what did not. At first, they walked in silence. The place was beautiful, even if it was freezing cold. And she found herself mesmerized by the snow field. She didn’t let her guard drop though, and did well, as they encountered bokoblin quite fast. 

 

Fortunately the group of monsters hadn’t noticed them, as they danced around their campfire, about to eat some meat. She tried to convince Enji to avoid them, since they didn’t pose a threat, but the hermit refused. 

 

-We will have to pass this way again, later, and they might not be a better occasion to get rid of them. 

 

He was right, she supposed, but she decided to compromise as she saw a rock, on a cliff, right above the monsters’ camp. She pointed it: 

 

-Then, instead of going headfirst, let’s use the surprise attack to its fullest with this. 

 

She rolled up a bit of her top and created from her stomach a bomb. Just like the one she shoot with the canon during the trial. She had remembered the components perfectly. Apparently, ironically, she had quite a good memory!...When it wasn’t about her past. 

 

-And this. 

 

Enji went silent for a moment, and seemed to find her plan worthy, as he agreed. 

 

-You will not always be able to avoid conflict, you know, he still warned her. 

 

She knew that, but judging how her last “conflict” ended, she would rather avoid it for as long as she could. Fortunately, her plan worked perfectly, and the monster nest was annihilated before the bokoblin even saw who was attacking them. She spared a prayer and an apology for them, as they stole their food supply. 

 

It was the rule of the wild, she supposed, as they continued their way up. 

 

-You said the shard showed you all the people they blessed with power, Enji suddenly asked, as the way up seemed to take forever. -But you didn’t recognize anyone on the list? 

-No.

 

For a moment Enji looked at her with pity, and she had the bad impression that she should have. She was about to open her mouth and ask when he resumed:

 

-Did you see a man with long red hair and dark skin there? A gerudo named Ganondorf?

-No, frowned Momo. -I just saw their faces, the shard didn’t give me their name, their tribe or anything else. 

 

The name, though, was familiar. She remembered reading something that sounded the same, on the museum. Yes. It was. She was certain of it. But how would Enji know about this? He sure didn’t seem to like the place, when he brought her here, she could hardly picture him taking a walk there. 

 

-Why, is he important? 

-Ganondorf is one of the first incarnation of AFO, i talked to you about it. 

-Then he shouldn’t be alive anymore, he was defeated, after all, right? 

 

Enji said nothing, and Momo gulped down her fear : sure he was hiding something. She had deduced that people could live past 100 hundred years, but, they were talking about a much, much older being, right? 

 

-And you didn’t see me? Changed subject Enji. 

-Why would i see you? 

 

Her heart made a loop, as one of her theory from the day before, one she could barely put word on yet, scratched the back of her mind. She was certain to not have seen the old hermit on the list of people the shard required her to bring. 

 

Enji sighed, and after a bit of hesitation, he took off his glove. On his left hand there was a triangle tattoo, but all the parts were darkened. Not a single one shone bright. Momo’s eyes widened, her heart beat faster. 

 

-How?

-I was, a long time ago, blessed by the shard of the power. 

-Then why? Why weren’t you on the list? Frowned Momo. -Why is your tattoo so different from the others? 

-It wasn’t like that before. Once upon a time, it shone with a golden light. But..

-What happened?

 

Enji frowned again, and put back his glove. 

 

-It wasn’t all at once…

 

He stopped, and looked at his feet, and Momo understood that it touched one of the subject he hadn’t been ready to say yet. Then finally he pointed something that was way, way further up, east from their point. On the top of a peak, there was a pile of rocks recovered by snow. 

 

-But the light died off once and for all with me, on that peak. I fought one of the calamity’s spawn up there, and it killed me. When i woke up, the divine tattoo didn’t shine anymore, not even when i used my flames. 

  
  


Enji didn’t look at the grave, his own grave, probably. Who had built it, though, he did not say. If he hadn’t woken up like he did, yesterday, Momo realized, he would have had another one. How weird. Momo’s mood dropped. When had it happened? 100 years ago, as she feared it was the case? Had he been stuck here for so long? And how many time had he died, already? Yet, at the same time, she found a foolish comfort over his words : they couldn’t die here. It helped, as she was about to face unknown dangers once again. 

 

Though, this was far from what the hermit was thinking :

 

-I could still use my power after that. Even though i lost the blessing of the shard. 

 

Momo gave it a moment to think about it. 

 

-Maybe it’s because it runs deeper than that? The blessing might have helped you have this power at first...but as you said to me, your body was made to use this quirk of yours. With or without the blessing your body is made that way, and taking it probably won’t reverse the mutation it went through.  

 

It was her hypothesis ; and it was worth sharing since it made Enji smile, again. 

 

-So in the end, it’s really our power, huh. It seems like Truth is really coming out of the kids’ mouths. 

 

That wasn’t what he used to say, she almost reminded him. But she didn’t, as she saw no point. Their destination was in sight by now, far below, and they had to focus on their path.

The shrine was situated on a rocky ledge, a little bit farther. And it felt frustrating, having to climb so much only to go down in the end. So Momo created a bunch of ropes and tried to see this as a training for when she would leave the Plateau for good. 

 

And it was far more difficult than she had pictured. It was one thing to picture yourself going down with the safety of a rope around your waist, it was another to actually be that person, turning your back to thirty meters falls. 

 

-Are you scared? Asked Enji, as she started to breath in and out.

-A bit, she admitted. 

 

Momo couldn’t say she was impatient to do that again, to an even greater scale. How much higher was the plateau? Judging from what she could see from here : a big red canyon in the horizon, with tiny points running, probably hundred of meter highers. 

 

It suddenly made the trial of the shrine less frightening ; as it would delay the inevitable. 

 

As they stepped on the pedestal and activated it with the Sheikah plate, she almost felt calm.  _ No one can truly dies in the Great Plateau.  _ She looked at Enji and wondered how much it hurt, to actually die. 

Her fingers brushed her scars, once again, as shrine opened. 

 

-Are you coming with me, this time? She asked Enji. 

 

The hermit grumbled, but followed and Momo felt better with him near, or to be more accurate, she felt better not abandoning him behind, facing some powerful mechanical beasts. 

 

The shrine was different than the previous one. As usual, Momo heard its name, but felt like reading it : the stasis trial. Stasis? What a weird title, the other one was more literal, easier to guess. 

 

She immediately pulled her sheikah plate and checked the encylopedia app ; it was back. Momo took up her notebook, the one she had wrote down all her crazy theories and drawn the faces of the power shard, and promised to copy as much as she could in it. But for now, the trial was waiting. 

 

The first obstacle wasn’t super hard to deal with, there was a big gear that was turning, making the bridge connected to it move too. While Enji just used his flames to propulse himself to the other side, she created a wooden stick and put it so that it stopped the gear from functioning. When she reached Enji on the other side she frowned:

 

-You could have taken me with you. 

-It’s a trial, you have to prove your worth to it by finding a way to pass by your own mean, he simply answered. 

 

It sounded reasonable, but the smile on his face told her that he was enjoying this. And she could understand him a bit : it felt good to resolve this puzzle on her own, to prove her worth and boost her confidence. She couldn‘t feel that, last time, as there was too many things at stakes, to much pressure on her shoulders. 

 

-First one to get to the end? Suddenly proposed Enji. 

 

She didn’t have the time to confirm, he used his fire to propulse himself up again, taking the lead, like a kid starting the race too soon. 

 

-There’s just no chance i could win, she complained. 

 

But still, she found herself smiling too, forgetting what “the end” meant, and focusing on the task ahead and how to overcome it. It wasn’t difficult at all, especially since she had a full night and meal backing her. She certainly enjoyed it better this time around. All she had to do was observe : the trial consisted of a bunch of falling rock, that rolled on the path she had to take. Everytime the rock fell from one of the plateforms, it went back at the beginning. Even if she couldn’t see the bottom of the pit, under the plateform, she assumed there was some sort of vacuum that teleported back the rock to the top, in some sort of never ending loop. So, she tried to prevent if from falling and stop this loop. Calculating her timing, she made a net and held it between two lamposts. 

 

It worked perfectly. For a couple of minutes, then the net broke. But fortunately Momo had the time to pass and get out of the rolling rock’s path before it came back. The last obstacle was another rock blocking a narrow way. Too big and weird to be climbed up or pushed. As she inspected it, her finger brushed some tiny blue sparks. 

 

_ Is it sapphire?  _

 

But she pushed this theory aside, reminding what the other trial said: shrines didn’t care about destruction, it would always be back to its original state given some times. 

 

_ Is it time stone, then?  _

 

She knew how to make time stone, thanks to the sheikah encyclopedia, as it was one of the component of her “bombs”. Was it the reason the trick behind all of this? She noted that in the back of her mind, promising to do some experiments one day. 

 

But, now, Momo decided to avoid it completely by creating a ladder and improvise a plateform of her own : fortunately the layout of the path allowed her to do so. 

 

Enji was waiting on the other side, near the altar and the block of lightl, looking smug and proud.

 

-I won, he simply said with a smirk.

-I’m surprised you didn’t blew up this rock on your way, she answered.

-Well, i could have, but it would be a waste of energy, and this rock did nothing to me.

-Are you being kind for a rock? She grinned - beware, next step is not wanting to kill monsters like me!

-I wasn’t kind of the rock, i just made sure the obstacle would still be there for you, and slow you down. 

 

That was more like him, Momo thought, still amused. Her mood dropped when she realized it was time for her to touch the golden light within the altar. She didn’t hear anyone this time : no congratulations for making through this trial. It worried her. Was she unwelcomed? Did they do wrong?

 

-Maybe you should touch it? She proposed to Enji, backing down. -Maybe it will re-active your tattoo? 

 

But Enji shook his head. 

 

-It wouldn’t do any good for me to have this blessing back.

 

Was it again, because of the mistakes he had made in the past? The hermit definitely seemed to be crushed by guilt, all of his joy vanished. 

 

-Besides, he added, this trial doesn’t look like one from my blessing. I was blessed by the power shard, all of this seemed to...how to say it? Not in the mood? It feels more fitting for courage or some wisdom shard than power to me. 

 

Momo was still amazed by how easily he had made to the end : way faster and easier than her. If this trial wasn’t made for people like him, he still passed it with ease.  _ The shard of power, sure showed its superiority.  _ It was almost frustrating. She still had a long way to do, before she could reach his level, if she ever could. 

 

-So...It’s better for me to go, she reluctantly guessed. As she bore no blessing nor tattoo of another shard. 

 

Though, she still took the time to say aloud, just in case;

 

-My name is Momo. I have passed your trial, and promised the shard of power to bring all those blessed by it to its shrines, i would do the same promise to you, if you allow me…

 

And then she closed her eyes and seized the golden light. 

 

_ How brave of you. You’re terrified, knowing what will happen of you if i judge you unworthy, and yet, you still reach me. But i’m no shard of courage. And you’re not of royal blood.  _

 

Momo felt a shiver running down her spine, and she opened her eyes, finding herself back in this blank space. Again. Her heart beat faster and her legs gave up under her weight. 

 

_ No. No! No! No! _

 

The shard stood still, floating above her, casting a merciless light upon her and the area. 

 

_ Fear not, it is faint, but i feel wisdom in your mind. You are worthy of me. Please, receive my blessing and my will.  _

 

Momo’s barely registered what the shard said, as it morphed into a feminine silhouette. A girl with long blonde hair and a soft smile. The blank space around seemed to shrink and curl around her figure, like a purest white gown. Only tiny bits of golden jewelry left remained, there and there, and she silently drew off an arp, hugging it almost tenderly against her chest. 

 

_ I, too, had someone i wanted nothing but stay close to.  _

 

The ghostly figure took her right hand in her, smiled, and disappeared in a blinding golden light. 

 

_ Please, find the others ones… _

 

A serie of faces passed through, so fast that it made her nauseous. 

 

This time though, she recognized people : one boy and the little girl from the painting! They were alive too! The boy seemed to be in pain and recovered by this black ice, while the girl looked asleep, in the arm of another man with blue hair and weird arrow-shaped eyebrows. Another boy who looked like the lover of the girl, but different, younger, a stranger with green hair and big eyes that reminded her of a frog and...

 

Momo blinked, missing a few, and when she opened her eyes, she was back at the shrine, in front of an empty altar. 

 

-What happened, asked Enji, stress and vaguely anger hurling behind his tone. 

-I...I don’t know...It seems like, i was...accepted?

 

She was about to touch her scar, again, unsure of herself, when she noticed something on her hand. The golden tattoo of the painting appeared, mirroring the one Enji had. Except that her triangle glowed in a faint blue light.

 

-The wisdom triforce...Whispered Enji, as he took her hand without permission. 

 

Momo’s heart skipped a beat again : the contact of Enji’s hand was so different form the one of the ghost figure : where it had been nothing but loving, Enji’s grip was hot, and rude. The contrast was almost unbearable. She escaped his grip and looked at her hand, still full of doubt: 

 

Was it real? Was it true? Was she really, worthy of such a blessing? Yet the evidence was there, undeniable. 

 

-It’s not glowing gold like in the painting…

-It will turn gold soon enough, assured Enji. -Maybe it’s because you just got a shard? But mine used to alternate between red and gold too and i had no such shard. 

 

There was still so much they didn’t know about this triforce. So much yet to learn! For a very long time, Momo felt curious, eager, instead of scared. Maybe because this, this little tattoo there belonged to her. She had won this, she had been called worthy and earned this. 

 

When they stepped out of the shrine, this time, Momo felt nothing but strong and confident. On her hand, the proof that she could do it, and in her arms, a notebook with a bunch of new drawings and notes. 

 

***

 

Her good mood really helped see the trip under a new light. Before all she cared was about her duty, promise, and people she had to save, and secrets Enji kept. She didn’t even bother to look at the height she had to climb up again, just enjoying the breeze of fresh air. Now as they walked through the snowy field once again, she could actually witness the beauty of the landscape. The sun rays made the snow sparkles just the right way, and she loved the sound it made at her every step. 

 

She almost felt like dancing rather than walking, of course that wasn’t an option with Enji near, so instead, she wandered right and left, climbed every trees along the way to try to spot their new destination. 

 

-Would you calm down? Complained the hermit, after she had climbed her third tree, spotted a bokoblin in the way and shouted an arrow in his head. 

-I’m just clearing the path! You said it would be useful and…

 

Enji grumbled and grabbed her arm, forcing her to go faster and follow him. She struggled a bit, then resigned herself as they went into the pathway that led to the pile of rocks. The grave Enji mentioned earlier. He only let her go when they faced it. 

 

At first, Momo didn’t know what to do or say. Why did the man brought her here? Was it to finally say something? To give her answers? 

  
  


But he said nothing, only staring at the pile of rocks, and so she did too, trying to guess what he was thinking. She was still sad to see the grave,  of course, but her emotions seemed far away, way weaker than before. It felt like the event that shakened her so much were old memories already. After a couple of thoughts, she finally decided to do a short prayer and pay his respect. 

 

-What are you doing? Grumbled Enji. -I’m right here and good, there’s no need for that.

-But you must have suffered here! It seems appropriate to at least acknowledge it…

 

She smiled. 

 

-And be thankful that this grave is empty. 

 

It was so comforting, to know that you couldn’t die here, she thought again. 

 

Enji frowned, and she couldn’t guess whether or not her word made him happy or unhappy. And for once, she discovered that it didn’t matter. It was the truth, and it couldn’t hurt him to hear it. She didn’t want to keep secret like him. 

 

-I…

 

She stared at the grave, once again, and thought that this moment was as good as any. She knew he wouldn’t answers her questions, as he wasn’t ready, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t share her theories. 

 

-I think the voice i heard from the tower is from Zelda or Link. 

 

As Enji stood in her back, she couldn’t see his reaction, but she heard him breath in, by the nose.

 

-Did you remember something? He asked.

-No. But it made senses, in your stories, Zelda and Link are the one who could fight the calamity. Who else would be there, with the calamity, and survive?

-No wonder the wisdom shard blessed you. It is, indeed, the previous Zelda that is waiting there. He...his name is Shouto. He is the third son of the late king Endeavor. 

 

Momo heard the hesitation and sadness in his voice, and closed her eyes, unable to unsee the connection her mind made, there and there. 

 

-Shouto, she repeated the name, rolled it on her tongue, savored the way it sounded. 

 

Strange and familiar. Cold and warm. Far and close. Like an old lullaby you could only hum and not sing. 

 

-When the capital fell, explained Enji, behind her, Shouto helped organize the evacuation, and the rebellion against the calamity. But it became clear that it would end up with his victory rather than ours. The master sword was lost, there was no bearer of the title of Link that could still fight...So the only chance left was to seal it with the divine power of the royal bloodline. He finally accepted his duty as Zelda and sacrificed himself for Hyrule. 

 

His voice broke. It was faint, but Momo heard it nonetheless. 

 

-It is not because it is your fate, because gods blessed you with such power, that you take good decisions. Remember that, Enji finally said. -Don’t let this power get to your head and make you think too righteous. 

 

These words hit too close to home.  _ Is it what i’m feeling right now? Is it what i’m doing?  _ No. She didn’t. She was just happy and confident. Besides who was he to give her lesson about it, to judge upon Shouto’s actions ?

 

-Shouto saved Hyrule, and gave us hundred of years to spare.

-At what cost? Grumbled Enji. -I don’t know in which shape you’ll find him, back in the castle ; after all it had been hundred of years. Maybe you’ll just find a ghost, whose will survived through time by some miraculous power. 

 

Momo’s heart broke, and her fist clenched, a surprising sorrow filling her chest. No. She didn’t want to believe it. He had to be safe, he had to be okay. After all...

 

-Well, you survived for 100 years and you seems fine, why wouldn’t he? 

 

She faced him, this time, and didn’t regret it, his face was nothing but shock. She had been right. She knew it. Though the emotion fastly disappeared, replaced yet again by this grumpy grin of his. 

 

-I was here, and he was in the castle. Our situations are very different.

 

Momo stared at the grave, frustration and anger boiling up with sadness.

 

-Because no one truly dies in the Great Plateau...Right? 

 

Enji’s face fell, as he nodded sadly. Maybe it was the last straw ; seeing him so resigned, so sure of her Shouto’s doom. 

 

-I will save him. 

 

She promised, not to Enji, not to herself, but to him. A gush of wind carried her words to the castle, she hoped, where he could hear it. No one deserved to be alone and abandoned like that.  He had been here, her light, when she had nothing else, not even her name, and she wanted to be the same for him. 

 

Yet, Enji didn’t answer, nor did he stared at her like some child throwing a tantrum, he simply nodded and turned his back, resuming his way again, as he whispered:

 

-Please do. 

 

The long walk to the next shrine was silent, all the happy atmosphere gone. Momo tried in vain to lift up her mood. No even the confirmation of her theories made her content, as the shadow of the death of Shouto, of Zelda, of the voice she held so dear, lurked around. 

 

And she knew, it didn’t matter how many times she repeated she would save him, if he was right. She would always be too late. 100 years too late. Enji talked about ghost; he knew more about this world than her, that was a possibility she hadn’t foreseen. That was a possibility she didn’t want to happen. 

 

All in her thoughts, she noticed the nest of bokoblins way too late : after they noticed her. They had been dancing around a firecamp, about to eat their grilled meat, when she interrupted them. And they were as angry as hungry right now. 

 

Enji who was walking a few steps behind heard her scream ; 

 

-ENJI I NEED FIRE! 

 

And he obeyed without thinking. One of the monster lit up, and started to panic, but the other two went for their weapons...and one of them headed toward a baril with a dangerous red paint and skull head printed on it. It took Momo only a heartbeat to realize what it was. 

 

-Don’t come any closer! She screamed to Enji.

 

And created a bow and an arrow out of her arms. And breathed in, realizing that she was way closer than she should. 

 

_ No one truly dies on the Great Plateau.  _

 

Calmness overcame her body, as time seemed to slow down drastically. 

 

When the bokoblin lifted up the bomb she aimed and her arrow went through their firecamp, taking some flames with it before hitting the target right in the middle. 

 

Everything exploded. 

  
  



	10. Great Plateau : Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally out of the Great Plateau!! 
> 
> Few it was super long >o< I hope you'll like this chapter. 
> 
> I have a lot of troubles irl (the man who lose me is sick, not deadly sick but life changing sick) so I won't be able to upload weekly (but have i ever managed to do that here ? xo) I will try to post bi-weekly then. I hope it's all right with you. 
> 
> I wish you a good moment reading this chapter, don't hesitate to leave a comment about what you liked or what you disliked even. 
> 
> Bye see you in two week (hopefully)

Momo had wondered if dying hurt. She thought, as she shot the arrow, that she wouldn’t be afraid of dying, as she knew she would be revived. That she probably already had been revived before. Yet she couldn’t help but get scared, as the the flame touched the explosive and set everything on fire. Despite just learning about her ability, she still had the reflex to create a shield from her body, covering her whole front. So when the wave of explosion hit, she wasn’t burned. 

 

It still hurt so much she assumed she died. For a while she couldn’t breath. She couldn’t think of anything but the pain ; unable to move. Lying on her back, covered by her own shield all she saw was the blackness of the metal. Or maybe she had lost her eyesight, she realized. It was a possibility. She tried to be afraid ; but her whole body was saturated with so many informations, concerned by so many other worried she couldn’t. She tried to move her finger and pass it in front of her eyes, to make sure, but didn’t remember in which sense her elbow was supposed to turn. 

 

When Enji arrived, set her free by taking out her half made shield out her view, all she managed to think, and say was:

 

-Oh i’m not blind.

 

And then, a logical conclusion: 

 

-Nore dead.

 

That was a good news. She supposed. Though Enji didn’t seem to share her opinion. He yelled. She heard nothing. And now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure she had heard her own voice, maybe just the echo of her thoughts. Echo. Echo...What a weird thing was echo! 

 

As she stared at Enji, who was now trying to make her stand and check her injury -oh so that was how her body function, she felt like her head was in heer feet and her hand was on her back...but apparently everything was in the right place. Why did she was so nauseous? 

 

Ah right, she took the full hit of the explosion. Her eyes wandered at the snow field, that had turned all grey, red and purple. Limbs of bokoblin and guts pouring around, as ashes melted away with snow under dying flames. That was gruesome! There was no nest anymore, no more enemy. Poor guys, she hadn’t want them to go out that way. Everything had been blown away. Did she still had all of her limbs attached? She checked. Yes, two feet and two arms...And every fingers on it. Few! 

 

How did she managed to survive that? One look around allowed her to understand : while bokoblin had either been pulverized, other were propulsed out of the cliff, while she had her back to the way she came up. She had been projected on a full cushion of snow, right where Enji had been. Her instinct to protect her front actually saved her life.

 

-Most stupid and…

 

Oh, she heard the echo of Enji’s voice, her hearing was coming back! That was a good news!

 

-HOW COULD YOU DO-

 

Oh crap, she was getting her hearings skills back, and now what had started as faint whisper, almost tender, sounded way more…”Enji” : angry, loud and obnoxious. 

 

She opened her mouth to defend herself, as she remembered why she had done that, but all that got out of her mouth was bile. She vomitted at Enji’s feet. Which, of course didn’t brighten his mood. Quite the contrary. 

 

-How could you do this? Aren’t you supposed to be wise? All you had to do was wait for me but no, you got here and decided to blow everything up. How did you-

-They had explosive powder…

 

Enji blinked, surprised she could answer this time -as much as she was. 

 

-Bokoblins don’t have explosive powder.

-They did -didn’t she told him? They had a society! They were intelligent beings! It was unfortunate in this very situation but still she had been right!- And they were about to use it, so i exploded it before it exploded to my face…

 

It still exploded though. For a moment Enji looked profoundly shocked, but he got his angry stare back quite fast and changed subject:

 

-That was still overly careless! You could have died!

-”No one truly dies on the Great Plateau” isn’t what you said to me? So even if i did, i would-

-YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN TRAPPED ON THIS DAMN PLATEAU FOR EVER YOU IDIOT!

 

She hadn’t expect him to sound so broken, as he yelled. She was used to him being angry, and sad, but that was a whole new level. Maybe it was because she was still shook after the explosion, but instead of being shocked, scared, or even angry at her past self for risking her life, her freedom, and almost be trapped inside this eternal summer land for ever, alls he could think off was : 

 

-That’s what happened to you…

 

And she connected the remaining dots. That was why he couldn’t go and check how people survived outside of the plateau, why he couldn’t come back to his family why…

 

-Yes. 

 

Enji stared at Momo, admitting this so easily it hurt. 

 

-That’s why i can’t allow you to die yet. You can go. You have to go. You have someone to save, right? A promise to fulfill. 

 

_The owner of the voice. The shards. My past._

 

As her senses came back to her bit by bit, she was hit by the realization, what she almost lost, and most accurately, what everything meant. It left her with an aching body and a guilty soul. 

 

Enji was right. She had been too overconfident, she thought she had been invincible because she was blessed, because of the magic of the plateau...But she hadn’t thought one bit of what price she would have to pay for such power. She had been careless instead of brave. Fool instead of wise. Prideful instead of powerful. 

 

_I almost lost my freedom. I almost failed him. I almost left Shouto alone._

 

And as she stood in the ruins of the monster nest, in this tainted snow, facing her mentor, a man who had made the very same mistake in the past and was trying to protect her from it, she promised herself to never fail like this again. 

 

Maybe Enji noticed her resolve, or maybe he just took pity of her, as he found her confused and shocked by her surrounding, whatever the reason, he just sighed, and patted her shoulders. 

 

-J...just don’t do it again. Use me. I’m already dead. Use me as a shield if you have to. But survive. H-I wouldn’t forgive myself if you end up trapped here with me. 

 

_All alone here, with only Enji to talk too? For how long? 100 years like him? I would go mad. How did he even managed not to go crazy, with no one around? How did he remain sane when the possibility make me lose my mind?_

 

She nodded, in a mechanical movement, her throat felt sore and humid at the same time, that she could barely speak. So she followed her mentor, deep into her thoughts. 

 

_But wasn’t i already dead? I woke up her, with this wound, isn’t is the sign i was already revived? Then that i am already trapped here, for ever?_

 

Luckily the event left her bruised, but not broken in any way, except, maybe mentally. 

 

_No, he didn’t come back with no memory like me, and his body wasn’t in the same shrine when he woke up. We’re different. We have to be._

 

They reached the peak of the mountain, and the third temple as she was still drowning inside her own mind. _I’m fine. i’m fine._

 

As they entered the third temple thanks to the sheikah slate, she had still into said a word. 

 

_Or it means we are fighting in vain right now, that even if i succeed and promise the shard, i wouldn’t be able to leave this plateau. That I’m lying to them._

 

It was frightening. She didn’t know who she had been, but she knew what she didn’t want to become. 

 

-Hey…

 

The silence had, apparently, worried Enji, as the old man turned around, and stared at Momo with a frown and a concerned look. 

 

-J...just go easy on that one, let me take most of it, you just came out of a big explosion, you have to rest. 

 

And as he turned his heels and faced the trial, he added:

 

-Don’t beat yourself to the pulp for something that almost happened, now focus on the way in front of you not the path you took. 

 

It would have sounded wise, if it didn’t go against what he had said,  when he accepted to tutor him : you had to know the past to avoid being reckless and do the same mistake of your ancestors. Yet she still appreciated the gesture : it was his way of cheering her up, she supposed. Or maybe it was how he managed to still stand until this day, and keep going. He had said he had made many mistakes he was ashamed of, that would make Momo hate him. Did he hate himself for it, too, sometimes, when he had been alone in this plateau? 

 

She didn’t need to be pampered though, nore to live in deny of her mistakes. She could face it, she could accept it. She would. After all, the reason she was there, now was because, somehow, by chance, she survived those. Her mistakes would have stayed, unredeemed if she had died. Because she lived she could fix it. i she couldn’t, then , at least, thanks to that miracle she could learn from it and avoid making it again.. 

 

Momo took a deep breath in and followed Enji, her resolve slowly coming back, as she realized that she was safe now. That she avoided the worst. 

 

The shrine, on the other hand, was giving Enji some troubles. Until now, when all they all to do was to reach some plateforms that were just high enough to be unjumpable on, they managed. Enji using his fire power to get in, and Momo using ropes. But now they faced some obstacle they didn’t imagine. A gigantic grille blocked their way. Enji had first tried to get over it, but even though it seemed like it was possible; some sort of shield was activated and pushed him away. He ended up in the pond, extinguishing his flaming beard in one splash.

 

The place was full of little ponds there and there, and from what he heard and read, the trial consisted of playing with ice to get through. So she shared her informations:

 

-I didn’t hear shit, when we arrived, complained Enji. 

-It’s weird, kind of hearing and reading it at the same time?

 

This argument didn’t convince Enji either. Though, he didn’t dismiss the information and instead, mumbled angrily:

 

-Of all things there are in the world, it had to be ice.

 

It was indeed problematic for him, as it was the contrary of his field of expertise; she thought. But to her surprise, he added:

 

-For a long time, it was the mark of the royal family ; ice quirk that could seal everything, even themselves, protecting people from corruption and the calamity’s influence. People just assumed that having an ice quirk was the sign of the goddess bloodline. But we already did the wisdom shrine...That doesn’t make sense…

-Well, there’s four shrines in the great plateau, you said, but only three part of triforce, so, i suppose there had to be one that was going to be repeated. 

-Just in how many parts the triforce was broken?

 

Momo closed her eyes, trying to picture the vision the first shard had sent her, again. She couldn’t count, but she had seen many, many shooting stars crashing in the fields, all around the world. 

 

-Can you try to use your quirk? Finally asked Enji. -You’re chosen by wisdom, this trial should be adapted to your power. Mine is the polar opposite.

 

Only when he watched her move, he added with a bit of concern back:

 

-Don’t hurt yourself again.

 

It was the closest thing be mindful of your injuries, in his mouth, she supposed. Though the worry wasn’t needed, for some reason she felt better and better. Yes she had lot of bruises but her head wasn’t spinning anymore and she had avoided to break any bones thanks to her reflex before the explosion. She thought it had been coward of her to not face death in the face, but she had been wrong. Fear wasn’t always bad, fear had saved her life on this one.

 

Anyways she tried to find something to get through this obstacle. For a moment she tried to imagine something, a chemical product, that could freeze the water pond they were in. Maybe if she could, freeze just the part under the grille, and elevate it somehow…

 

No, she had no way to do that : she could probably ice the place, with the good chemical reaction, but how to modulate it in the correct form? She had no way of doing it without a...A jack! Or some kind of leverage. That could work! She wouldn’t even need ice that way. 

 

Enji didn’t turn his head, as she created out of her bare chest the engine, but he did propose his help when they had to pump it. It did wonder ad they could pass through without troubles, except one minor detail : a robot waited for them in the next hallway. 

 

Though momo didn’t even have the time to process his presence, as Enji destroyed it with his flames in one go. 

 

-I hate those things, he simply said, as if he needed to justify protecting her. 

 

The rest of the trial went without a trouble. They faced some walls again, and Enji used his flames to get them where they needed to. Though Momo spotted a system that looked like a gigantic level, or balance-like-plateform they could probably have used instead. They had reached the place of the shard, though, and so didn’t need to worry about it now. She still noted in the back of her mind, for when she would have to come back with the chosen of the shards. Maybe Enji wouldn’t be able to help when this time arrived, after all. 

 

-Do your thing with the shard, ordered Enji, as they stepped in front of the altar. 

 

She didn’t look forward to it, but the knowledge that it was the wisdom shard, again, helped ; she had been chosen by it, after all, she could not be deemed unworthy.  So she extended her hand and touched the faint golden glow once again. 

 

As usual she found herself in the white land, as the golden light turned green. This time she didn’t hear a sound, she was sure of it, instead she could read its thoughts, the whiteness around covering itself in letter, like the blank page of a notebook. So many, many lines displayed all around her, made her dizzy. 

 

Some sentences were simples : _I can do it. I have to do it. They count of me._ Other were full of despair : _I’m scared. I will die. What can i do?_

 

It broke her heart as it reflected her own state of mind so accurately. 

 

Then suddenly, something cleared, bolder, appeared in the mess:

 

_Courage walks hand in hand with fear, it is reckless to face danger without it._

 

Then again:

 

_You are no child of courage, but wisdom, why are you standing here?_

 

So, Enji had been wrong, the ice quirk wasn’t wisdom’s mark only. How many things do we blindly believed in, without questions? 

 

-I came here to offer you my help, shard of courage, just like i did with other shards. If i’m not worthy of your blessing, please allow me to find those who are and bring them to you. 

 

The shard twinkled at her words. 

 

It seemed, they had believed in a lot of false things, in the past. This trials, this shrines, they might hold the truth about history. They might give her a way to fight the calamity. For good this time. 

 

 _Ah,_ the letters changed their order, _I feel a glint of twilight, of bravery within you. I like that._

 

Yet it added: 

 

_But wisdom comes in hand with curiosity and foolishness. You think you get the truth, you think you understand and master the law of the reality, then you try and you fail.  State your purpose ; do you seek me for power? I am but the light in the hero’s soul, if you want to use me to get the sacred artefact and wish for your own salvation, i will trap you here with me for all eternity. Never again, the triforce shall be touched by a tyrant, be they blessed by power, wisdom, or courage._

 

Momo blinked. This shard was different, while the power wanted nothing more but be freed from his prison, overwhelming her with everything it got, this one was...wary, to say the least. He faced its fates with both resignation and determination. Surely it was the true essence of courage. But also, a little bit sad, as it had stopped fighting for its own self long ago in the process. Wisdom, on the other hand, fit perfectly in between. 

 

-You can only trust my words, she said : but i know you will. As it require courage to trust others. 

 

She couldn’t hear it, but she was sure the shard laughed. 

 

_Fine, i will ask you to bring me those i see the making of a hero within then. Please, bring them to me, and keep your vows._

 

The letters disappeared in the blink of an eye, and faces started to flash there and there, left to right. Momo tried her best to keep track of it and remember each of them. One blond man with a big smile on his face. A girl with brown hair and round cheeks, who seemed to be floating above the ground. And…

 

She stopped and stared at the mastersword image in front of her very eyes. It was rusty, and in bad shape, broken in half, and covered in mose, but undoubtedly, it was the legendary sword. And at his tilt, lied a boy with green hair. His hand still gripping the guard, as ivy, thorns and light blue flowers recovered them both. 

 

What the heck happened? Was he even alive? Before she could reach him anc check his pulse the image vanished, and she found herself standing in front of the altar, with Enji, once again. His grumpy voice welcomed her back:

 

-So, how was it? 

 

She bit her lips, as she tried to chase the image of the boy, holding on to the divine weapon like hope, as he was recovered by vegetation. She couldn’t help but be cautious, as she witnessed the evident proof that divine artefact could lead you to greatness, but also your doom. 

 

Momo told Enji everything as they made their way out. The hermit only nodded, without making a sound, as she explained him her conclusion about the ice quirk, he only opened his mouth, once again, when they decided on their itinerary ;

 

-We should head back on our track, if we go that way we would have to cross a freezing river and a monsters’ nest, i would like to avoid that if possible. 

 

Was he worried for her wound, or trying to not do unnecessary killing, she didn’t know, but either way she was grateful. 

 

They walked in silence, both deep in their thoughts, so much that Momo noticed the color of the sky only when they reached the ruins of the portal, when they exited the snowy field. It was turning in a shade of orange and pink, almost like twilight. 

 

But, time wasn’t supposed to happen here, right? She had been there for so long, unable to know how time passed, that she could only blink in surprise, as the first stars appeared.

 

If she was shocked, Enji was even more so, his face suddenly turning as pale as the moon. 

 

-It is not possible...We are doomed to live in an eternal summer day…

 

Yet something had changed, something deep inside the plateau, and day had turned to night. The rusted gears of time had started to move again. She could almost hear the clicking noise of every passing second, chiping like owls, in the darkness. 

 

Despite the surprise, she couldn’t help but the fresh air and peaceful sound of the nature falling asleep. It was contagious. It felt so good, to finally leave this eternal day. As she put her hand on her chest, breathing and savoring the scent of the night, she noticed the faint blue glow on her hand’s tattoo. 

 

Maybe...Maybe it was the shrine that changed everything. Maybe once she fulfilled her promise to Power and Courage, and bring someone to hold them, the great plateau would finally be back to the flow of time. 

 

What did it mean, she thought, as she stared at Enji, the man whose life had been suspended by the magic of the place. WHat would have happen to her, if she had died in the explosion a bit earlier?

 

-Enji...She whispered, as she finally grasped the underline threat of this darkness. 

She couldn’t see his features anymore, but she could feel his uneasiness, as he stated:

 

-We need to hurry. 

 

Hurry because maybe, he hadn’t have much time left, he didn’t say it, but she filled the blank. And her heart squeezed, that time of goodbyes might come sooner than she expected, for good this time. _Will you tell me everything, before it’s too late, this time?_ She thought, yet, rightly after, despite her anger, despite her curiosity, she realized she would trade his revelations if it could prevent him from disappearing. Stories could be found again. History could be unfolded. People who were lost never got back. 

 

Yet, somehow, she needed to hear his story, she knew that. The story of who he was, had been and who he had wanted to be. The story of what lead him trapped here. And the story of his parents, and grand-parents. So they would not be forgotten. So that, even if he were lost, something of him still remained. 

 

They walked faster, a sense of hurry chasing behind them, surrounding them like dark clouds. The Plateau seemed entirely new and stranger to their eyes, as they had never seen it under the moonlight gaze. Despite their efforts, even if they aimed for the shrine...They ended up in the temple on the top of the hill when Enji started to glow.

 

A green eerie aura enveloped his body, tiny glow of red and gold floating around him, like ghosts. Momo felt a shiver running down her spine. But Enji’s expression softened up. 

 

-So, this is it…

 

And he smiled, a little bit sad, resigned, and relieved at the same time. It hurt Momo to see it. He didn’t look like he would fight this, as if he had accepted his fate a long time ago. But Momo didn’t. Momo was used to having him here. And Momo wanted him to stay. Most of all, she wished he wanted to stay, too. 

 

-Fight, please, she whispered. 

 

And somehow, standing here, in this temple, in front of the silent god statue, wishing for a miracle, reminded her of this terrible day where she wiped all alone. 

 

Endeavor closed his eyes, and Momo, even if she knew now that no god would hear or answer her prayers here, pleaded:

 

-There might still be some hope left! Please, stay...Fight!

 

And, as she saw Enji’s features, so soft when it was supposed to be all grumpy, she added:

 

-Your son could still be around, don’t you want to see him again?

 

That got his attention back, but not the way she intended. As Enji closed his mouth and looked down, his peaceful expression replaced by regret and guilt. 

 

-My...I doubt my son would ever wish to see me again. 

 

He stared at Momo, and smiled:

 

-But he would love to see you again. 

 

She held her breath. _Someone who knew me. His son knew me._

 

-I think the time has come to show you who i truly am...Whispered Enji. -We’ve run out of time. I wish i could have found the right words, i wish i could have accompanied you to the end of the plateau...but...We don’t always get the choice. 

 

But before he could finish, she said; 

 

-You are King Endeavor, right? 

 

After a bit of surprise, Enji laughed, and nodded. Momo’s felt the coldness of the night getting through her bones ; she had thought that getting right would feel more pleasant. But all she felt now was the confirmation of an old tragedy. A truth her heart didn’t want to acknowledge but her mind keep putting on and on.  

 

-You are truly more than what i took you for, in the past. Since when did you guess?

-The grave. The way you talked about Zelda. And...Maybe i knew it from a long time, it felt so weird, so surrealist, so sad…

-It is...all of that, yet still the truth. Never avoid facing the truth, even more so the painful ones. I am Endeavor the first, Enji Todoroki of the Gerudo tribe, and the last king of Hyrule. A kingdom which no longer exist, because of my mistakes. 

 

As he admitted it, his white cape of hermit vanished and the green and red glow around him formed a ghostly crown, changed shape to give him the attire of the late king, full of forgotten symbols yet forever shining jewels; former beauty of past glory. 

 

He looked regal, like the painting without face of the ruins. He looked like someone else, with this sad expression on his face. As if the Enji she travelled with, the grumpy hermit she had come to care for, had already disappear under the responsibilities, slowly fading away and becoming nothing but a mere memory. The first one she would held to, the first one she would remember as her new self. 

 

Unaware of this tragedy, King Endeavor pointed something, in the horizon, far, far away in the west. 

 

-My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter where it came from the wind always carried the same thing : death. 

 

His gaze became as distant as the land he was talking about. 

 

-Maybe it is fitting, as it’s the land that allowed the most dangerous calamity to see the light of day. I was born as the male heir of the Gerudo queen, the first boy after many, many centuries without one. The divine child Gerudo both adored and hated, as it could bring them glory or doom. Male heir were the core of the greatest kings, before Ganon, but history only remember the one that had turned into the calamity. It is no excuse, but i grew up with the shadow of my former ancestor : Ganondorf, the traitor, and human incarnation of All for One. 

 

Momo could barely fathom what it would feel like, to be followed by such destiny at such a young age. Always fearing your every decision : would this be the one who would make him fall into darkness? She doubted a person would naturally take the bad decision for the sake of it being bad. They had to believe, somehow, they were right, that it was the only solution, and so, how could you be sure that the path you decided to follow was the one of virtue?

 

-The winds that blew across the green field of Hyrule bought something different, other than suffering and ruins. It gave its people hope and life. Just like their ancestors, whose shadows were always those of the ever loving goddess and the hero of all time. I coveted that wind, i suppose. I envied their lights. I wanted their destiny. 

 

Endeavor shook his head, as if he was disapproving his young self. 

 

-As i grew up, the sheikah tribe made a premonition : the calamity that had once been sealed off 10 000 years ago would rise again. Ganondorf was still there, were his very words. Monsters started to appear throughout the lands, and in the sky the moon turned red...As more and more people became wary of me, expecting me to turn into a monster, i thought it was my only opportunity to prove them wrong. I wish i could say i did it for the future generation, so that no one would ever bear the same cross as me. But that would be lying. I did it for myself. I wanted that what they called Ganondorf to save Hyrule instead of destroying it this time. I wanted to show them i could be the greatest hero. 

 

He turned his back to Momo, as if facing her was too hard. 

 

-So i trained. I went to Hyrule castle and trained under the cautious gaze of the royal family. As they were ready to seal me if i ever did anything out of place. I trained with all my might. Yet it wasn’t enough. There was a man i could never defeat, no matter how hard i tried : the one who had been chosen by the mastersword, the All mighty Link. 

 

He sighed. 

 

-When the calamity finally arrived, a dark cloud of corruption that tried to take an human form...I was relieved ; as it meant it would not be me. I would not be the monster they all waited me to turn. But on the other hand i was afraid, because that meant that despite the tattoo on my hand...The blessing of the power, i was no one. 

 

-You said the calamity came back, when you were young? Repeated Momo. -I thought it appeared only 100 years ago, and its apparition caused Hyrule’s doom. 

 

Endeavor shook his head: 

 

-The war against the calamity had started long before that. We made every possible mistakes during ou campaign, and lost many brave men and women. I was a little bit older than you are now when i was given my first command. I lead my tribe to a massacre, and i witnessed their death first hand. As i tried to avenge them, feeling the shame rise in me, the calamity almost stole my power, my quirk. Without the hero, i would have fallen on the battlefield, like every one of my soldier, as if all these years of training meant nothing. 

 

His fist clenched. 

 

-This very day i realized that i would never be able to defeat them. 

 

Was he talking about the calamity, the hero, or both?

 

-But i didn’t want to give up. I didn’t want to admit that i was no one. I was the king of the Gerudo, and if i wasn’t becoming the pawn of the calamity, that meant i would be the greatest king of this era, that i had the making of greatness. That i could, and would be someone. Do you know what walk hand in hand with power? 

-Pride.

 

It sounded more like a requiem than a word and for moment, Enji seemed to listen to the glas, almost enjoying it. A sad lullaby that put you to the eternal sleep that you could nothing but adore, as it brought with his notes glimpsed of a past you once loved, proof you had been there, alive, breathing. That you were more than a brief moment the universe would soon forget. That you mattered, for the better or the worse. 

 

-When All Might fought the calamity, we thought he had won. That the war was over. But the Sheikah tribe sages went into a retreat, far below the ground, and came back with a prophecy. AFO would come back one day. Yet the people didn’t fear, as they still had their hero, and knew that he would once again defeat it. All mighty Link, Toshinori Yagi, became the symbol of Peace, even in this time of dread and war. I wanted to take my revenge on the calamity, of all those people who looked at me with fear for so long. I wanted them to look at me with the same adoration they looked at him. I couldn’t defeat the calamity, but in my head...i don’t know why, but i thought i still could. In a way that no one else but me could. So...I married into the family of Hyrule. 

 

He opened his arms. 

 

-It sounded so easy! So simple! Inside me there was power, and inside their blood ran wisdom! With the assurance that i wasn’t the calamity spawn, what could possibly go wrong? We would be stronger than ever, if the calamity came back, we would be ready this time. Our children would be stronger than i was, stronger than All might! They would defeat it, for me. They would give me the victory i couldn’t take by myself. And this time, i would be the savior of Hyrule. History would remember me. 

 

Momo tasted the bitterness of mistake inside her mouth ; seeing now, one hundred years after this decision was made, what consequences it had. Endeavor faced Momo this time, his eyes shining with a strange mix of past excitation and regrets. Oh, how he believed it was the solution, and that confidence blinded him. 

 

-I treated my wife poorly and my children even worse. I neglected those who didn’t bear the blessing of power and wisdom. And for the two who had it, i was more of a trainer than a father.

 

He stopped, and corrected himself:

 

-More of tyran than a king. 

 

He shook his head. 

 

-I didn’t see them for who they were, but the extension of myself, my revenge, my masterpieces. They needed no name of their own, only their titles. I made them feel that history had their eyes on them and that it counted more than their parent’s gaze. I put them under everything i hated when i was a kid, drowning them in the shadow of their ancestors. And mine. And what for? 

 

He embraced the view of Hyrule, and the ruins all around. 

 

-I am today remembered, as the last king of fallen kingdom. But not as the monster of a father and an awful husband i was.  I made them miserable, and it didn’t even save Hyrule from destruction. 

 

Momo wanted to say, that even if it did, it would have not made it even less okay. She could understand his thoughts, how he came to make this mistake, but understanding didn’t mean she supported it. How life must had been hard, for his kids. For Zelda. _The owner of the voice she wanted to save. His son._ Yet she still couldn’t hate him, maybe she would have, if she hadn’t meet Enji, the hermit, and broken man who had lost everything, his honor, kingdom, wife and children, and even his life. The man who helped her when she was alone and lost. 

 

 -You made mistakes, but it is not my place to forgive them. No one but your family has that right. 

-They’re either gone.

-You don’t know that. I saw Shouto’s face, and even the girl on the painting, when i visited the shards! They might still be alive and well.

-Even if they do, they shouldn’t forgive me. 

 

What a obnoxious man ; shouldn’t he be relieved they were alive before worrying about on how they should react?

 

-Whether they do it or not, is their right and their decisions, not yours anymore. My…

 

She looked at her fit, slowly realizing what her role was in all of this.

 

-My place is to allow you to meet again, and decide for yourselves. To find closure. 

 

Enji laughed, sadly. 

 

-You should really stop making promises to every person you encounter. Or you’ll end up with too many responsabilities you can bear. 

 

For a moment he seemed to hesitate, to be about to add something, but then softly whispered:

 

-I didn’t want you to tell you everything as your memory were still fragile. I had made my son crumble under the weight of his destiny and i didn’t want to do the same with you. As you were precious to him, and i didn’t want to betray him once again by letting you suffer. Forgive me. 

 

 _Precious to him._ Momo’s heart faltered ; both with excitement of fear. Someone had cared, someone had loved her in the past, and knew who she had been. 

 

-So...I was there, in the past, 100 years ago? She asked. -I was by Shouto’s side?

-You were -one again he paused- one of his appointed knight. One of his most trusted. When the sign of the calamity coming back appeared once again, we began preparing the war. Ze- Shouto wanted to fight it differently, to seal it for good, without the help of his power. As an act of rebellion against me, probably. So he chose some knights from the academy, and founded an order. The order of  the champions. Together they tried to find a way to seal AFO. They looked for the triforce, and somehow found some ruins, lead excavations and discovered guardians, from 10 000 years ago. 

 

Momo held her breath ; the same guardians that brought so much destruction. _Oh Shouto!_ How awful he must had felt, when he saw that all his efforts were for naught, and that it gave the calamity more weapons? She couldn’t imagine the pain he had to go through, being the stepping stone of all this destruction and suffering.

 

-The calamity was cunning, and you guessed what he did, taking control of the guardians instead of fighting it.  The champions fought the best they could, but lot lost their lives. Seeing their inevitable defeat, they took refugees into gigantic forteresses they had excavated, we called it divine beasts, and tried to save as many as possible.

-No…Whispered Momo, fearing to hear what was next.

-AFO took control of the divine beasts too, as easily as he had done for the guardian. And everyone inside it were lost to the Calamity as well. Only very few survived. None of the champion went out. 

 

It was hard, to assume that everyone she had known in the past had probably died. But when she woke up and learnt that 100 years had passed, she already resigned herself to such fate, more or less. It was harder to imagine them go so horribly, suffering and broken. But the hardest was, that, even though she felt the loss and the injustice swelling inside her heart, despite all of that, she couldn’t remember their faces. Not even one of them. They had been champions, together, they probably trained together, laughed and cried together. But they didn’t die together. 

 

-And the All Mighty Link? Where was he? She asked.

 

Where was he, when she had been saved, while her friends were left to die? Where was he when the castle got destroyed, when the calamity arose, and Shouto, her Shouto, her light, sealed it? When she was taken away on this very plateau and put into a 100 years slumber?

 

-When the calamity came back a second time, All might was old, and wounded. He had hidden his weakness in order for the people to cling to hope, but couldn’t fight anymore. The mastersword had been damaged during his final fight, and finally broke, half of it disappearing while we waited for AFO’s resurrection. We had no other people good enough to inherit the title of Link. And when the Calamity finally stoke, he fought, and barely survived, trying to protect Kamino village. A little town that was hidden under a cliff and didn’t see the calamity’s cloud, and couldn’t evacuate on time. He managed to save them but couldn’t save his appearances. People started to loose hope, realizing that there was no one to save them anymore, no All mighty Link, and a rebellious a Zelda.

-He wouldn’t-!

 

It escaped her, but didn’t think any less, despite the proof all around her and the destruction. Because she knew, deep down, that he had tried his best. He had tried everything in his power at the moment. He had been strong, surviving such hard life and yet still fighting, finding another way to accomplish his destiny, And...In the end, he..

 

He...Her eyes looked for the castle, in the horizon, sealed in the darkness. She couldn’t see it, from where they were standing, but she senses its presence, felt him. 

 

In the end he did saved them all. 

 

-He was not, but that is the reputation i earned him, with my behaviour. People couldn’t care less about the truth, as they despaired. Yet he still fought for them, with his remaining knights, he tried to save as many as possible. You were one of them. 

 

Endeavor looked at Momo, with compassion. 

 

-You fought valiantly, even when your fate took an unfortunate turn. But you fell in battle. Shouto couldn’t bear the thought of losing you too, and -Endeavor’s voice broke- he asked me to bring you to one of the shrine they had excavated, the shrine of resurrection. -His fist clenched once again- I said i would do it at the only condition that he used his power to his full potential and ended this war the way i always told him he had to. 

 

Momo was speechless, unable to process what she heard. Of all the people that were killed, lives that were lost that very day, she was the one who was chosen to be saved. Her life, her survival had been used to blackmail Shouto. By his own father. He asked him to sacrifice his existence, for her. 

 

-Why? 

 

Why, her of all people? She didn’t even bear a blessing when she woke up, revitalized, 100 years ago. She was useless in this was, minus some skill in sword that she had apparently all forgotten in her slumber. _Did you love me that much?_ A sense of guiltiness rose in her heart, as she hadn’t remembered his name, his face, when she awoke. That was unfair, she wanted to know what they were like, if she loved him back as much as he loved her. _I need to save him, i need to pay him back…I need to say thank you at least._

 

-He believed, explained Endeavor, that you would be the glimmer of Hope Hyrule lacked, that you would come back with a plan, and save them all when he could just postpone the inevitable. I didn’t. I thought still he was that light and he just didn’t try hard enough. 

 

This trust in her, it was so much, that it moved her. She had no such confidence on her ability, but she didn’t want to bring him down, she didn’t want to betray those feelings. And so, she promised herself that she would try. She would die trying, once again. 

 

Endeavor’s smile softened and, a bit hesitant, he put his ghostly hand on her shoulder. She could barely felt the contact anymore. 

 

-I know i have no right asking you this, Momo...When i was the one that brought so much destruction upon us, and never recognized your effort, or my son’s value. Whatever Shouto used to seal the calamity, his power will soon be exhausted...When that happen, AFO will come back, and continue his path of destruction.

 

He closed his eyes, and clenched his fist.

 

\- I wish i could fight it and give you more time, but...I’m powerless here. You said you heard him, you said he is alive, that you feel it. If so, please, save my son, save Shouto. If you have to fullfill just one promise, please let it be this one. If you cannot find the strength to forgive me, to do it for me, then do it for him, for you. Please. 

 

Momo couldn’t find the words, her throat full of emotions. So she nodded, she promised, again and again, to this grieving father. She had already pledged to herself to save this man.

 

Enji’s  light flickered, as the first ray of dawn fell inside the temple. Soon enough, the ghost would vanish with the darkness. They had no time left. And they both knew it. Momo’s chest hurt, as goodbyes were closing in. She didn’t want him to go, she wanted him to stay and see Hyrule being rebuilt, rise again, to see what she had no doubt about : his son, alive and well. Even if they never get along and forgive each other, that she wanted them to choose that path and not be forced to take it, separated by death. 

 

-Don’t make that face. I’m all right with it, King Endeavor scorned, and he almost sounded like Enji, the hermit, again. -My time ended long ago. But yours shall continue. Once you cleared the last shrine...It would be reckless to go to the castle directly...I suggest you make your way east, to one of the village out in the wilderness. Pass the two peaks in the horizon, the twin summit of the dual peaks, as we call it. Find your way to the Kakariko village. If the sheikah survived, you’ll find their town there, and people who will help you, make a good use of what you learnt in this plateau. 

 

His silhouette was almost gone now, becoming dust dancing in the light. 

 

-I think that’s it, i told you all i could…I-

 

He looked at Momo, sad and happy at the same time. and before she knew it, she said to him the only thing that felt right, that came to her mind, the only thing she wanted him to hear, if this was the last thing they would ever say to each other: 

 

-I don’t hate you. 

 

She didn’t like what he had done, she disapproved every bit of it ; not because it almost costed her life -even if she was a little hurt about it- but because it caused so much suffering. But that was something she had no recollection off. Maybe her past self hated him and hold a grudge against Endeavor. But her present self, didn’t care, as it was a far away story, like a sad legend you had only heard once. Maybe this hate would gow overtime when she would witness the consequences of his action, and have to fix it, but or now, she didn’t. 

 

Enji’s face disappeared as it was shook by surprise. But she believed, no, she hoped, that he was about to smile, in the end. 

 

-Thank you for taking care of me until now...She whispered as the last tiny glow vanished all around, under the goddess statue’s loving gaze. 

 

For the first time, she heard another voice, not Shouto’s, but Enji’s.

 

 _Thank you._  

 

She held back her tears, as she left the temple. For a long time, her legs felt nothing but heavy, burdened with the promises she had to keep, while her chest so empty that she could almost feel the wind passe through it. Yet she kept moving forward her eyes fixed on her goal.  

 

The last shrine. 

 

it felt weird, to take one without Enji. It reminded her of the first one she took, when she thought she had to hurry to help him. In the end, it didn’t matter. 

 

As she put the sheikah tablet on the altar, putting wall all around her heart, she heard a noise. A bipping noise. The door didn’t open, instead the screen of the plate turned red, with a big message displayed:

 

“Not allowed to enter. Please insert the mastersword on the altar to speak to the spiris of One for All.”

 

Momo blinked, trying to process the information. So the last shrine of the plateau had more security? Why? Why this one in particular? Shouldn’t it also hold on of the shard? Was it because it contained a bigger shard? 

 

She frowned, unable to answer this. Enji would have complained about it. Maybe he would have had answer, half of it, and taking forever to give it, only for it to be half wrong, but still. Answers. 

 

Her throat tightened, and she gazed at the sky, becoming clearer and clearer under the crack of dawn.  

 

The night had been short (I wanted it to last longer) time had been back but distorted, twisted. It took her mentor away too fast. And now she was all alone. She couldn’t even do as he last asked ; to clear this last trial. 

 

It hit her. Stronger than she admitted. It was the second time she lost him, so she thought she could handle it better, yet it wasn’t the case. She missed him. It was unfair. 

 

For a Momo looked  at the closed shrine. Trying to figure out what to do. If she couldn’t enter now, she would later. After all, she saw where one half of the mastersword was : in the hand of a green haired boy, in a forest. She had to find him to. She promised it. 

 

She would honor her words.

 

But for that she needed to leave this Plateau. 

 

The cliff was nearby, and there were decoration gargoyle carved all around. It seemed like the Plateau had reinforced walls, like a fortress, in the past. It could be handy, she thought, as she attached the end of the rope she created to one strange sculpture of a bird. 

 

It was even higher than she had imagined, so instead of looking down, she forced herself to look up. She tried not to think about Enji, but it was hard, as she could imagine him at the top of the plateau, holding the rope and keep telling her what to do. Surely, he would say to look at her feet, to roll her rope better around, so she would be more secured. 

 

He would...

 

As she made her to midway, it started to rain. And as she felt the first water drop hit her face, she let down her guard. 

 

Maybe it was stupid, maybe it was a waste of time to cry for a man that did so many mistakes in the past, but she didn’t know King Endeavor, she knew the hermit Enji. So she cried for him, for the man she knew, and she couldn’t say goodbye to. The man who had been worried about her well being after she almost blew herself up, the man who protected her against a guardian, the man who taught her how to hunt, and how to kill a Pebblestone, the man who tried to teach her how to use her power in her own way, the man who told her she was stupid it think of bokoblin as intelligent being that deserved to live, yet stopped killing them when he could. The man, who asked her to save his son. 

 

_I will save him._

 

By the time she reached the floor, she had shed all her tear, and was soaked from head to toe, the rain pouring around. Her first day out, in the real world had no clear sky and wilderness. It grey day that had the scent of the fog, and the soundof  thunder rolling far away. 

 

The vast field of hyrule was bare and humid. Just like the Plateau had been.

The sentiment of emptiness filled her heart. Rusted shields and lance layed, bare or covered by mold on the ground. One skeleton was still holding something close to his chest behind an almost running down wall of what probably had been a barak. A flag, still hung, wet and torn apart, to one gigantic pole. As she stared of vast plains full of ruins it was hard of believe that anyone survived such calamity. Yet, she heard a scream only after a couple of steps. 

 

-Help!

 

It sounded so weird, so out of place, that it took some time for Momo to process it. Enji never called for help ; and so she only heard that word with her voice. But as soon as she understood what it meant she looked frantically around, creating a rusted sword in her hand, ready to fight. 

 

There was someone harassed by Bokoblin nearby. Only two of them. _I can handle that!_ She ran so fast that she almost slipped on wet the stalled floor. Luckily the Bokoblin were too busy trying to drag a blonde man away to notice her, or her strangely sparkling sword. But Momo did.

 

_Why is my sword producing spar-_

 

The answer came too quickly : thunder! She had to get this out of her hand right now. 

 

Before she could think of anything else, she threw her weapon to the Bokoblin’s skull, taking him by surprise, and seized the opportunity to tackle the blonde man to the ground. 

 

-Don’t move! She ordered loudly. 

 

The second Bokoblin, to avenge his comrade, rushed to them at full speed, his fangs all out. She acounted on it and created a lance -the same she had seen all around- just when the bokoblin jumped on them. It pierced his body and put an halt to his assault. But it was still alive. His skin was different than the other one, darker, in a shade of blue instead of red, and apparently it made him more resistant. 

 

The spear, made of iron, started to buzz with electricity soon enough too. She had no time to get into safety. The thunder could strike anytime now. 

 

_Bokoblin or thunder, what do i protect myself from first?_

 

She decided to do both, and created a long blanket in a material she remembered was electricity proof, and right under it she made a wooden shield that could recover them both. As she looked down and put her hand around the poor victim of the Bokoblin, she realized something : they stood in a puddle.

 

_Water conduct electricity!_

 

Without a second thought she created a wooden plateform out of her knees. Hoping to be fats enough, as she started to feel dizzy. 

 

She couldn’t see anything else that happened, but she heard it. First there was a loud noise and the scream, the earth beneath them shook -or maybe it was the person she was trying to protect that was shaking. Then the silence, only cracked by the few drops hitting the tissu they were under. 

 

After a moment, full of fear and expectation, she dared to move, and look outside.

 

The two bokoblins laid on the ground, dead, and a little bit crispy. 

 

Before the thunder stroke them again she took the rusty lance and threw it as far away as she could. 

 

And just like that, it was over. 

 

Adrenaline dropped in her body, and she felt herself sit to the ground, exhausted, out of breath, as she barely realized what had happened yet. 

 

_I did it. I saved someone…!_

 

Next was Shouto! 

 

She turned her head, her heart beating fast, as she expected Enji to grant her with somekind of a proud grunt...but remembered the truth as she faced a soaked blonde boy instead. 

 

She probably managed dot hide her deception, as the boy smiled and took both of her hand.

 

-Thank you! That was magnificent! _Magnifique!_ The way you defeated those Bokoblin! Here is some cheese as a thanks!

 

She felt something spongy in her hand and made quite a face as he stared at the “gift”. But she was too hungry to be picky on food, especially after using her power so many times already, and with a smile, she said:

 

-You’re welcome.

 

And ate it in one go. It was as awful as it looked. 

 

-That’s the spirit! 

 

The man she saved nodded, definitely supportive. He looked a bit weird, even if his blonde hair were drenched, he still managed to make it look good, with a catty smile on his face as if it was his plan from the start, and his eyes were so full of stars that it seems to shine at his every wink. Which he did a lot. 

 

-I am sure, he started, standing up suddenly- that you are full of question! How a man of such raffinement, like me, is doing here, all alone in the wild?

 

To be quite honest, she assumed that people had to go out at one point; even though she did wonder where he could live since there was nothing but ruins round. But he seemed so adamant that she didn’t have the heart to break his enthusiasm, so she politely asked :

 

-It’s like your reading my mind, what could you possibly do so far away from your home? 

 

-Oh my, that is...A secret! Answered the man, definitely pleased.

 

Apparently she had rescued some weirdo. He wore an knight outfit, like an armor, and she wondered if he had been struck by lightning because of it...Or did he hit his head during the fight? She couldn’t help but worry a bit. 

 

-My name is Aoyama Yuuga, it is nice to meet you!

 

The boy finally said, offering his hand to help her stand. Well, if he was a little bit crazy, at least he was galant and polite. She accepted his proposition, and smiled:

 

-My name is Momo. 

 

She didn’t remember her last name, but didn’t have the time to make it sound suspicious, because as she stood, the doublet that Enji gave her fell, to the ground, revealing her top to everyone around. That’s only at this very moment, as she stared at what was left of her mentor torn apart and soaked, that she realized how dirty she had to look. She was walking almost bare feet, and her whole outfit consisted of a strange and short suit torn in half in the middle, a bunkle and a cape. Goddess ; she hadn’t take a proper bath in forever too. Did she smell?

 

Embarrassed she tried to put on a good front, putting back her ponytail in place, in vain. Aoyama, though, gave her a look full of compassion ;

 

-It seems you had a rough day, what don’t you camp with me tonight, i must have some spare clothes for you.

-I don’t want to impo-

-Shh. I would sleep better knowing someone who can fight this well is by my side too, it is a fair deal! _Donnant-donnant!_ Would you accept then?

 

And honestly, she was tired, and hungry, his offer was kind ; and the rain was heavy. But most of all..

 

Momo stared at the empty road, in the horizon she could see the twin peaks she had to reach, far, far away, maybe days of travel. Alone. 

 

She didn’t want to be alone right now. So she nodded and said:

 

-It would be a pleasure Aoyama. 

  
As she said it, she realized that she jumped on his last name naturally, and the blonde boy didn't seem to be offended by it. Was it custom, here? She didn't remember how Enji used to call her, now that she recalled, he kind of avoided using her name all the time. 


	11. To the stables !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understood that big chapters scared everyone...So I'll be back to medium length with this one. I hope you'll like it ! Next chapter is very important, as you'll guess once you've reached the end, I hope you'll look forward to it.  
> See you in two weeks =D

Aoyama had been a pleasant company. It helped, not being alone on her first day out of the plateau ; it kept her mind away from Enji, and gave her hope ; some people still remained on these devasted lands. 

 

-Not a lot of people dare to travel to these fields, had explained Aoyama quite proud, as thunder roamed above their head. 

 

He had established his camp under the ruin of an old garnison. He had also taken off his armor, at one point, as he didn’t want to end up like the Bokoblin : stroke by lightning, and under all these plates he looked frail and thin, almost sickly. Though his radiant smile showed otherwise. 

 

-Lot of treasures were lost during the great Calamity attack, and it is my duty to find as many as possible!

 

He had asked Momo what was her purpose, and she explained him she was trying to reach Kakariko village. Fortunately Aoyama knew the place and the direction and gave her quite a lot of advices and informations. 

 

-Don’t ever leave the road, it’s mostly safe here, as guards and merchants often pass by! It will take you two or three days, but if you make it to the stables behind the peaks, you might rent a horse and get to it quicker. 

 

He also talked about strange shrines and tower that popped out of nowhere or started shining recently. Apparently he wanted of investigate, as he said, shiny things were often traces of treasures. In exchange for his kindness, Momo warned him about guardian : she didn’t know if those beasts were still active here, and if her awakening brought their too, as in the Plateau, but she didn’t want Aoyama to take any risk. 

 

As they were ready to go and sleep, their camp composed mostly of wet rags, she noticed something among Aoyama’s stuff. She leaned close, trying to figure out what it was when he noticed, and without any hesitation took it off. 

 

-This is my traveling companion! He stated proudly. -It is important to always look good, no matter where you go. 

 

He was holding a pocket mirror. Momo only had glimpse of herself until now, her reflection on the river as she passed by, brief vision of her black hair as she untied or tied it in a ponytail, and the shape of her scar on her chest. She didn’t think she was superficial enough to need to see herself, but when the opportunity arose, she felt curious. 

 

What did she look like? Was she pretty? Certainly not now, but underneath all the dirt, maybe?  _ Was she pretty enough for Shouto?  _ The thought surprised her, since he called her his light, and sacrificed his freedom for her to escape death, she dared to believe he had some sort of love for her. Maybe not romantic, but at the very least friendship and respect. She always supposed it was enough ; it had to be enough.  _ She couldn’t expect him to feel more to be disappointed in the end.  _  But…

 

-Can I-? She still asked Aoyama. 

-Of course! I think you need it more than me right now!

 

A polite way to say that she really needed a bath. Well. Not that she wasn’t aware of it already. 

 

Anyways, as she sat on an humid paving stone that once had been the dining hall of the fort, she looked at the mirror. The timid fire they lighted in what was left of a cheminee reflectif itself on the small object first. But then, then she caught a glimpse of her face for the first time.

 

Almond eyes with pretty eyeslashes, as black as her raven hair. She knew her skin was of pale complexion even though right now she looked dirty and tanned. 

 

_ So this is how i look.  _

 

She didn’t recognize her face, as much as she didn’t recognize her voice once upon a time. But she wasn’t shocked by it. She even felt quite satisfied. Yes she wasn’t the prettiest, with wild hair with vibrant color or eyes like sea...But she liked it.

 

She was contented herself. 

 

And so, after she gave back to Aoyama his “traveling companion” she lied on the floor and closed her eyes. She could see a bit of the sky where she was, and even noticed a falling shooting stars in the distance. She tried not to think of Enji, nor Shouto, or her duty, instead focusing on the moment right now, of her little victory of the present, as the sound of the rain rocked herself to sleep. 

 

She awoke the next day, her cheeks wet. But she didn’t know if it were tear of tiny drop of rain that had managed to fall on her face. 

 

After a really short and bad night -it had been humid at cold after all, even when she wrapped herself in her cape. the rain finally stopped, and she parted way with Aoyama. Not, though, after another gift from the blonde.

 

-I don’t have much, he said. -I wish i could give you some fancy clothes as you seem to lack any right now, but i came her with the bare minimum for myself. 

 

But he gave her provisions, cheese mostly. She didn’t have the heart to refuse it, and extra food was always best with her quirk. And she had been right about it ; as she had to use her power many times before even mid-day. 

 

The long road that lurked around the plateau was destroyed beyond imagination ; she could only glimpse at what had been and imagine how full of life he could have been here. Now all that were left were muddy ruins, ghosts and monsters. She tried her best to avoid fighting as much as possible, hiding in the shadow, but couldn’t avoid some skirmishes. 

 

The toughest one was against a new type of enemy she had never saw before ; it looked a lot like Bokoblin, but taller. Almost two humans tall. She was lucky to be able to create her own weapon, as she managed to surprise the beast by extending her length by creating a spear out of her arm. After that she held onto it, as if her life depended on it. 

 

_ I think...I prefer spears over swords… _

 

She wasn’t sure what to think of this new discovery about herself. 

 

As the sun rose high in the sky, in its zenith, Momo was exhausted ; now she was sure of it ; without any time indication on the plateau, they had been following their own rules, and their “days” were definitely shorter than normal ones. But at least she had reached the bridge Aoyama talked during their long dinner. He had said that after this, the road would be safer. She hoped he was right. 

 

Momo spotted the soldier first, and let out a relieved sigh she didn’t know she was holding. From afar she could see he was a bit young, with black hair and strange elbows that his armor couldn’t hide but, well equipped. But as she drew closer, she noticed something else : he seemed in distress, panicking even. Before she realized she had started running, her fist clenching her already worn-out spear. 

 

She had been right : the guard was indeed in troubles, but not the kind she imagined. He was trying to rescue someone. Someone who was barely holding to a log as the river drifted them away. 

 

-What can i do to help? She asked the guard as soon as she was near. 

 

She didn’t know what to do, the stranger was still far away from the bridge, so far they could barely see anything much of his features, except white hair. He had to be old. It was a miraculous he had managed to stay with his head above water. She considered the option of diving and getting to him by swimming, but she realized that she was that good of a swimmer. Until now she only bathed once, in a quiet pond, after all. It was different there, the stream seemed way too strong, and she would have to go against it to get to them. 

 

-Any chance you’re good with a bow and an arrow? Asked the soldier.

 

He had a strange, nervous smile on his face. She shook her head in denegation. 

 

-Not that good, she confessed. 

 

She could barely see where to aim, the risk of hitting the stranger and make them lose their grip on his lifeboat log was way too high. The soldier cursed under his breath. 

 

-Okay, then we have no choice but to wait until he get here. Help me gather some rocks.

 

She did, and her eyes widened when he started to sprout of adhesive out of his elbow, sticking the rock to it and creating a net out of it. She should be already used to people using their power but it was such a curiosity still! Where did that come from? His bones? Could-

 

_ Focus on the rescuing mission, you will ask questions later!  _ She forced herself. 

 

Momo, once she understood the soldier plan, created a net out of her chest. She hadn’t seen one yet, in her new life, but the knowledge was there, the same way she knew a sword should be called at such when she first opened her eyes. Together they put down the installation between the two columns of the bridge. 

 

-Once they’ll be stuck there, i will drag them to she shore with my adhesive. If they continue this path, if they pass this, they will drift up to Hylia’s lake, and they’ll be done for!

 

She didn’t know why the lake region was so dangerous but she trusted his words ; as the soldier sure knew the area better than her. Now thought, there wasn’t much they could do beside waiting and hoping for the log to came closer. 

 

-My name is Sero, by the way. 

-Momo. 

-Thank you for your help, Momo. May i ask more of you? I can’t leave this place, this road is too important i can’t allow monsters to take it. Especially after those shrines started to glow. I’m worried they might be some kind of unknown guardians. 

 

He pointed some building she had passed by as she arrived the bridge, just a little bit back. She had been so adamant about the soldier that she hadn’t stop at it. Aoyama already informed here that those type of thing wasn’t on the plateau alone, fact she already half guessed thanks to the revelations of the triforce. 

 

She put that emplacement in the map in her mind, to come back at it later, but she knew what to expect of it, and there was no point of going through a trial when she wasn’t sure she could complete it alone. Though, it was best to put at ease Sero’s mind about it. 

 

-I already went inside one of those, it can be dangerous, but it is not like guardian at all, unless you get in, nothing will attack you. 

 

Sero nodded, a bit skeptical if his expression was any indication. 

 

-I still can’t leave this bridge. There’s a stables behind the peaks, would you mind taking the wounded to it in my place? 

-I was aiming to go there in the first place, so i don’t mind. 

 

But, she thought, dragging a wounded stranger would definitely slow her down. But what else could she do? She couldn’t leave them to die, right?  _ I’m sorry, Shouto, will you wait a little lo- _

 

Her heart stopped as the stranger on the log moved a bit, hit by a wave. He was so close now that she could see his face. And she recognized it. It was Shouto.  _ Shouto!  _ The one she was apologizing for!  _ The son of Enji, the owner of the voice, the princess Zelda! _

 

She pushed asides all her questions ; what he was doing here? why wasn’t he in the castle? Why was his face recovered by some black ice? All of those were second to this one “Was he alright?” She needed to know. She needed…

 

She looked around trying to spot a way to get to him closer, faster. There was the remain of an house, that was only woods pilons now, and a rested guardians with legs frozen in the middle of this destruction. The river submerged both half of their feets and if she calculated right, Shouto’s log would pass very close to it. Maybe she could…

 

-Is the guardian overthere asleep? She asked Sero in hurry. 

-Hum? Yeah for as long as i can remember.

-Even in the last few days?

-Yeah of course, why would it change?

 

Perfect. She apologized to Sero and ran to it. The river split into two branches though and while from the bridge she thought she could pass it by walking, it was too deep and the stream too strong. She repeated Sero’s curse words without a shame. 

 

-What are you doing? Stick to the plan! 

-But i know the man on the log! She explained. -He is…

 

She was short of words to describe their bond , by all means they were strangers, as she had never met him in person. At least now her actual self, the one with no memory. But at the same time he was everything to her, her light, just as he once called her. He had sacrificed everything to save her from death, What was a little bit of water? She couldn’t just sit and pray for him to drift into her arms! Fates had not been so kind until now, why would it be any different now?

 

Momo’s decision was made a long time ago. 

 

-Please lend me some of your tape! She asked Sero. And the soldier, despite being a bit reluctant, obeyed in the end. She tied if to her waist after getting rid of all her heavy equipment -not that she had much to begin with- and got off her cape. She could do it. If she jumped right and tightened the right way, she could probably make a buoy out of it. All she needed was... _ air.  _

 

She put her arms inside and focused on the element. In a heartbeat the tissu started to swell, couture creaking under the pressure. And without a second thought, Momo jumped into the water. 

 

It was freezing cold. All the more reasons to hurry to Shouto. She didn’t know how long anyone could survive in this temperature. She quickly remembered old reflexes, and though she discovered she wasn’t the best swimmer in Hyrule, she could swim good enough to go against the stream. Her eyes focused on the destroyed house and rusted guardian, aiming to catch Shouto there, noticed something. Something strange. 

 

At first she pushed it away, thinking it was nothing but a trick from her mind, a call from her fear. 

 

It seemed the ruin of the house was in a better shape that she had previously thought. When she had seen nothing but wooded pillars and structures lefts, she could see a wall, almost as good as new, and even a window. 

 

She wasn’t sure of it, until she definitely reached the place, finally touching the ground rather than swimming. Shouto was only at arm-length, and yet, she couldn’t help but stare at the place. 

 

It wasn’t a ruin anymore. It had a roof. 

 

What…

 

Had she been imagining it? 

 

Now she was sure of it, it wasn’t there before-

 

Then she heard the noise, the distinct sound of rusted gear putting into motion once again. First it was the leg, slowly creaking. Then as Shouto’s log brushed its claw, the head turned. One blue single blue eye fell upon them. 

 

If she believed she was hallucinating, then Sero’s loud curse proved she didn’t. 

 

She felt the beeping sound reverberates inside her bones as the red light aimed for Shouto. Without a second to take a break, she grabbed Shouo by the collar and dragged them back into the water. 

 

They had absolutely no chance of winning on land, if she had to drag someone wounded, she could only hope for that thing to not be able to follow them inside the river. 

 

And it didn’t. It really tried to get them, but it slipped and took back its mechanical claw with something akin to an hiss. But though it didn’t like water it still had its beam, and it didn’t need to be close to shoot. Momo felt the urgency, heard the beat acceleration -or maybe it was her heart. She had no shield, no way to deviate it, no way to protect herself. She looked around trying to find some debris, something to hide under…

 

The beep stopped. She had no more time. So she did the only think she could right now, she let go of her cape and log and dived into the water with Shouto. 

 

_ Please, bear with it just for a moment! _

 

Was he unconscious? She didn’t have the time to even look at him properly, but he didn’t move or protest at all. If he was, then…

 

She pulled Sero’s tape, hoping he would get the message, and immediately she felt herself be pulled back to the surface. She couldn’t waste any more time, ie hf had been unconscious then he had not taken a deep breath before diving and then...then! 

 

She pierced the water and took his head out first hand. That’s when she noticed the black ice that recovered half of his face. Just like in the vision but worst.  But was he breathing? She put her hand in front of his nose.  _ Yes! Yes he does!   _ Thank One for all, he was still alive! IN a bad shape but...The black ice on his skin was so freezing it burnt. She almost let him go as his head touched her shoulder, but gritted her teeth and bore the pain.  _ Later, Not now!  _

 

Somehow they avoided the hit, but the guardian, was it? She turned around and her eyes widened. 

 

The guardian was back in its original place, as if nothing ever happened. In the same position, half destroying the house, that had returned to the ruined state she remembered of. 

 

_ What the… _

-By the calamity! Mumbled Sero. 

 

Her back hit the self made net of Sero, and was at the very base of the bridge. They could talk later about how absurd everything was once they were out of water, she decided, and asked him some help. 

 

As he lifted Shouto up, Momo couldn’t help but look back again at the guardian. It had been the second time one of this creature started to move in her presence. Was this going to be a theme? Why? Enji had said it was her awakening that started this, but if so, then the beast should have been moving since days, and would not just stop out of the blue. And what about the house? 

 

_ One is an accident, two is coincidence, three is a pattern.  _

 

If it happened a third time, she would have to stop and get the reason behind it, but for now, she couldn’t waste anymore time. 

 

She finally got herself on the bridge, out of breath and frigorified. She missed her cape already -it had been Enji’s last gift to her. But, it had helped saving his son, and she couldn’t force herself to regret her act.  _ He wouldn’t mind.  _ Maybe. Maybe not, maybe he would be both angry at her for not taking care of her stuff, and be relieved she saved Shouto and be pissed about her actions. It was Enji, after all. 

 

The pain of the loss of her mentor, eased, though, as she looked at the boy laying on the paved floor. Emotions filling her whole chest and eyes.  _ He was really there.  _ Not just some ghost or voice inside her head, but, physically, alive…

 

She hadn’t realize that absence had taken is form, until now, as now that he was back, and now that she saw his face, his red and white hair, she couldn’t help but feel that he belonged here. Right here. 

 

-This is no good…

 

Sero, on the other hand, seemed to not approve, as he checked Shouto’s pulse, avoiding deliberately the black ice. 

 

-This look like corruption. Frozen corruption? It’s the first time i see something like that! It…

-Is it serious? She asked, fear crippling under her skin, like a shiver. It pierced her bones like coldness. -What’s corruption?

 

Sero gave her an anxious smile. 

 

-The sign of the calamity. Some area are totally recovered by this poisonous miasma. I’ve never seen hylian being corrupted by it, but some monsters and animal sometimes.

-What does it do? Is there a way to remove it?

-Well usually it has a gigantic bloody eyes popping out of it, and you just have to destroy it to remove it. But it can kills the animal if it’s been there for too long and…

 

Momo understood : she didn’t see such things on Shouto’s body right now. Then maybe it wasn’t that so called corruption? Maybe it was something else? She shook her head, standing there wondering what it was would do no good. They needed to bring him somewhere where a doctor was. 

 

-You told me about the stables. Will there be a doctor there? She asked.

 

Sero frowned, but then nodded:

 

-I think there’s one girl there, she called herself “recovery girl” She travel from stables to staples to help people. Maybe she would be there. She always teach some tricks before she leaves, anyways, so  even if she’s no-

 

Then that settled it. Momo tried to put Shouto on her back but her hands were shaking, the tip of her finger turning blue because of her time inside the freezing water. She had hated the eternal summer the big plateau was stuck in, but at least the pond there were at a good temperature. 

 

-Let me help, proposed Sero. 

 

And he made sure that Shouto would not fall of her back despite his visible uneasiness about the “corruption”. He lended her a blanket and wrapped it around Momo’s skin to make sure she would not touch the miasma. “Just in case”. Shouto’s left hand was bigger than his right ; ice made it that way, almost claws carved in this black ice. She could understand why he was wary of it. But she couldn’t bring herself to care : all that counted was that she felt the man’s breath on her neck and his heart beating against her back. 

 

-You need to stay to this side of the river, there’s no monster nest there. And watch for the waves, sometimes lezalfos hides under the water and attack! I know there’s a merchant that often take this path, maybe he will have a mount tnd will help you if you cross ways. You should be there before midnight, but if you don’t, there’s a couple of firecampz for travelers hidden there and there.

 

She nodded to thank Sero, clenching her teeth under her charge, both physically and mentally. She was exhausted in more way than one, but there was no way she would stop now. She had dragged Enji’s body across the plateau in worst shape, she could do the same with his son, if it meant saving his life. 

 

-Don’t worry, we will get you some nice help, Shouto, she promised him softly.

 

He didn’t answer, his skin so pale and his lips bluish. 

 

Sero came back with her stuff and especially the spear she had created. She decided to use it as a cane, ready to tight and not getting in the way.

So, she took a deep breath and started to walk, as steadily, yet as fast as possible. She saw the glowy figure of another tower-, like the one in the plateau, as she reached the two peaks, some hours later. It height was nothing, in comparison of the broken in half mountain, and getting into the path gave her shivers. 

 

It would be so easy to be ambushed there, or get crushed by falling rocks. The temperature, which was already not so good, dropped, as the wind sang, enhanced, in this narrow passageway. 

 

-We’re almost here, hang in there, she whispered to his ears. 

 

As she started to get really cold and shake, on the other hand, she felt Shouto’s body grew hotter and hotter each new step ; he was getting a fever. 

 

-It’s good ; It means you aren’t in hypothermia state anymore! You might wake up now. 

 

She bit her lips, not believing her own lies. Fortunately Sero had been right : the pathway was free of monsters, which she could see lurking on the other side of the river. Night had fallen, and most of them were getting ready to sleep. She wished she could too. Take a break, at the very least. Her legs felt wobby. But she knew that if she stopped now, she wouldn’t be able to get back walking, even less put Shouto on her back alone. So she said aloud:

 

-We’re almost there,.

 

And tried to believe it. Even if she didn’t see the stable yet. Not even the end of the path. All she witnessed was darkness growing all around, and monsters sleeping peacefully. Her voice was tight with worry and tiredness. She had so many things to say to Shouto, right now, she wished she could tell him already, but she was too afraid to wake up the monsters around. 

 

_ It’s just like when i woke up in this cave… _

 

Only one way up, and his voice, his presence guiding her toward the light. Toward freedom. Even though her whole body hurt and her mind was a mess, he was there, steady, his warmth both comforting and weighing her down. 

 

_ I want to know who i am… _

 

That was true, she had wanted to ask him, what was she like, what did he like her about, why did he save her among all the other. She finally stepped out of the mountain path, and her eyes fell on a bridge made of junks.

 

_ I want you to know who i am! _

 

Not who she had been, but who she was right now, the one that met his father as an hermit and learned about Hyrule on the plateau, the one who was gasping, trying to get some more air, enough energy to do just one more step. The plain was silent, but the huge tent, or stable, was distingable, even in the darkness. Even if no one was there to welcome them, all was almost there! She could see some figures getting out, and talking hastily as they rushed to her sides. She couldn’t make up their words, neither see their face, as they were all but blurry. 

 

-He needs a doctor, she whispered, hoping that they talked the same language, that they understood one another. 

 

That they would take care of him as he deserved.  _ Please, heal him.  _

 

_ I want us to meet… _

 

Properly. Once again. 

 

She couldn’t remember anything much after that. 

  
  



End file.
